Football

Man City players refund supporters who travelled to Norway for their shock Champions League defeat at Bodo/Glimt

👤
By Admin
Sports Journalist
Man City players refund supporters who travelled to Norway for their shock Champions League defeat at Bodo/Glimt

Manchester City’s players will refund supporters who travelled to Norway for their shock 3-1 Champions League defeat to Bodo/Glimt on Tuesday night.

City followed up their 2-0 derby defeat at Manchester United with another poor performance as they fell 3-0 down before Rayan Cherki pulled a goal back on the hour, only for any faint hope of a comeback to be extinguished by a red card for Rodri moments later.

It was a night that prompted Pep Guardiola to say he has a feeling "everything is going wrong" for City, and the players have now decided to reimburse the cost of tickets for the 374 fans who made the trip to the Arctic Circle.

A statement from the captains' group of Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias, Rodri and Erling Haaland said: "Our supporters mean everything to us.

"We know the sacrifice that our fans make when they travel across the world to support us home and away and we will never take it for granted. They are the best fans in the world.

"We also recognise that it was a lot of travelling for the fans who supported us in the freezing cold throughout a difficult evening for us on the pitch. Covering the cost of these tickets for the fans who travelled to Bodo is the least we can do.

"We're ready to fight on Saturday for our game against Wolves and then again next Wednesday when we face Galatasaray in front of our amazing fans at the Etihad."

Kevin Parker, representative of the official supporters club, welcomed the move.

"Manchester City fans will travel to the ends of the earth to support our team, and last night was no different in the Arctic Circle," Parker said. "Bodo is not an easy place to get to, and the sub-zero temperatures made it a challenging evening on a number of levels for our fans.

"The City support has an incredible connection with the players on a matchday, and this gesture is yet another reminder of that relationship - it means a lot to us.

"We know that the players are disappointed with the defeat to Bodo, but with our next game at home on Saturday there's a chance to get back to winning ways and our fans will be in full voice, backing the team as they always do."

City's only wins in their last seven games have been in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, with three draws and a defeat in their last four league outings, starting with a 0-0 draw at Sunderland on New Year's Day.

Man City midfielder Tijjani Reijnders, who played the entire 90 minutes in Norway, told Your Site News that they are fragile.

"We never underestimated them," he said. "We knew they are pretty good at home on the artificial grass. We should have done much, much better, especially because we could have qualified for the top eight. Now it's on the last game.

"At the moment, we are fragile. We aren't consistent like we were before. It's something we have to work on and get out of as quick as possible.

"The most important thing now is that we stick together as a group, especially in the tough moments and keep doing the basics well."

Share this article