Only two-thirds of the Etihad was full for Manchester City’s win over RB Leipzig in their Champions League opener on Tuesday night.

 

It led the Manchester City manager to urge the fans to sell out the stadium at the weekend as he feels the Citizens need more backing.

 

 

The Spaniard’s words drew a sharp response from a Manchester City fans’ group, who criticised Guardiola and stressed that it plays into the hands of opposition supporters who regularly take a dig at their failure to fill out the Etihad, often calling it the ‘Emptyhad’, while also not taking account of the costs of games and the difficulty of attending matches in changed times.

 

However, Guardiola insisted that it is not his problem if his words were misinterpreted and he is not going to apologise for what he said.

 

 

He said in a press conference: “Did I say after the game that I was disappointed because the stadium was not full?

 

“Interpretation is interpretation. I’m not going to apologise.

 

 

“Our fans will be there tomorrow.

 

“Hopefully [general secretary of the official Manchester City fans’ group] Mr [Kevin] Parker will be there to watch us”, he added.

 

Manchester City are in action this weekend at home to Southampton and it remains to be seen what the attendance is for the Premier League game.