It's not a good look.Ĭity now need their European story to be defined by what happens on the pitch rather than off it.

Many fans feel the club has been victimised, but City have not been an innocent party and, although they won their appeal, they have still been fined €10 million for 'failing to cooperate with UEFA authorities,' and a financial penalty of that magnitude should not be dismissed as simply a rap across the knuckles. But for City to become the club that their Abu Dhabi owners want them be - an established super-power among Europe's traditional elite - they need to look to the future rather than the past. It is not difficult to see why City have always had a fractious relationship with UEFA when minor technical breaches result in a heavier fine than for discriminatory chanting. A month earlier, UEFA fined FC Porto just €20,000 after that Mario Balotelli had been subjected to monkey chants and racist taunts at Estadio do Dragao.

In 2012, City were fined €30,000 for being one-minute late returning to the pitch in a Europa League tie against Sporting CP. Indeed, as far back as 2014, Guardiola's predecessor, the usually urbane Manuel Pellegrini said Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson 'was not impartial to both teams' and 'favoured Barcelona from beginning to end' of a 2-0 round-of-16 first-leg defeat at the Etihad. The antipathy towards UEFA, largely among the City fan base but also from some within the club, extends back much further than Guardiola's time in charge and relates to previous punishments for breaking financial fair play (FFP) regulations, and controversial refereeing decisions that have hurt the team on the pitch. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach has instead urged the fans to focus their energy on backing the team, rather than venting their fury at European football's governing body, but with City successfully overturning a two-year Champions League ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), their supporters will claim they were right all along.īut what happens next? Will the antagonism continue, despite City's courtroom victory, or can they move on?

Pep Guardiola has never encouraged Manchester City's supporters to boo and jeer the Champions League anthem during the stand-off with UEFA during his four years in charge as manager at the Etihad Stadium. Man City can put UEFA rows in the past by winning Champions League You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser

Manchester city chants pellegrini