For Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola the Champions League is the holy grail, but it appears that the club's fans are not so taken with the competition. Only 30,000 Manchester City supporters turned up to see their side beat Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0 in their opening group game that was rescheduled for Tuesday after violent storms caused it to be postponed.
With 20,000 empty seats at the ground and those fans that were there booing the Uefa Champions League anthem, as has become customary, Guardiola appeared unimpressed.
"For a manager accustomed to the vibrancy of the Nou Camp and the Allianz Arena, that was an unacceptable display of apathy. His displeasure was the main theme of his post-match assessment," says Chris Bascombe of the Daily Telegraph.
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City's "antipathy towards Uefa stems from sanctions taken against the club when they breached financial fair play rules... but Guardiola effectively told his supporters to get over it", he adds.
Guardiola also said it was up to his team to make home games unmissable. "Today the stadium is not completely full so the only thing we can do is play good so the people at home say 'Wow next time I will be there'. We have to be so proud to play in this competition," said the Spaniard, who flagged up the forthcoming visit of his old club Barcelona as a reason for fans to get excited.
However, City have some superstars of their own to attract spectators. Sergio Aguero is one of them and he scored a hat-trick to help sink the German visitors.
He was "brutal" says George Caulkin of The Times. "With the ball at his feet and with the scent of goal, there are few players more vicious or less merciful... In this sort of form, he is murderous to play against and impossible to contain and, after the drenching storms of the previous night, he rained goals upon Borussia Monchengladbach."
