You may not be a Manchester City supporter (I’m certainly not!) but there is one star player who really is a genuine hero.

Midfield maestro and City captain Ilkay Gundogan has been an ambassador for health and care charity, Community Integrated Care, for the past three years.

During the Covid pandemic Gundogan supported service users, who include people with learning disabilities and autism, through visits to their homes, video calls and even offering match tickets.

Having promised he would provide more “special moments” to service users after the pandemic, Gundogan, who is of Turkish origin, arranged a Turkish meal for 120 service users from 20 services in Manchester before City’s triumph over Inter Milan on Saturday.

Speaking to the BBC ahead of the meal, John Hughes, director of partnerships and communities at the charity, said: “It’s exciting for the people we support. For a lot of them it’s their first chance to taste Turkish food. ‘Kay’ has been giving us some fantastic experiences and today is another example of that.”

You can see the BBC interview with Hughes and sports inclusion coordinator, Oliver Thomason, here.

You can read a letter sent by the City captain to service users and colleagues ahead of the final here.