The players have decided to reimburse the cost of tickets for the 374 fans who made the trip to the Arctic Circle.
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Manchester City’s players will refund fans who travelled to Bodo/Glimt for Tuesday’s Champions League defeat (Fredrik Varfjell/NTB via AP)open image in gallery
Manchester City’s players will refund fans who travelled to Bodo/Glimt for Tuesday’s Champions League defeat (Fredrik Varfjell/NTB via AP) (AP)
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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.
Looking for a boost after Saturday’s 2-0 derby loss to Manchester United, another poor City performance was punished 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 killed by a red card for Rodri moments later.
It was a night that prompted Pep Guardiola to say that he has a feeling that “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.
“Everything is a little bit turning against us for many, many things,” Guardiola said. “When we started New Year’s (Day) in Sunderland, we missed what we missed and then we started to get injuries. Matheus (Nunes) with the flu cannot be with us so it’s many, many things that are against (us).
“At that level, the Champions League or United at the top level, it’s always more difficult to have consistency that we had – one, two months, winning seven, eight games.
“Now, OK, we’ve lost important players, we’ve lost a little bit, but in general the tone of the team was much, much better than the last one.”