Why do Manchester City fans boo the Champions League anthem?

Manchester City do not have a long and distinguished European history, but Pep Guardiola and his team will hope to write the first important chapter on Saturday night in Turkey.

The Etihad club head to the Ataturk Stadium to play Inter Milan in the Uefa Champions League final, their second appearance in such a game and aiming for their first win, having lost two years ago against Chelsea.

At the end of the night, the fans hope to start a big celebration, not only for lifting this trophy, but for completing a treble, with the Premier League and the FA Cup already in their locker room this term.

But before you even think about celebrating, you have to win the game and beat Inter, and before that happens, the city’s fans are likely to send a completely different tone and atmosphere to the night, when the La Liga anthem of Champions sounds before the kick. -off.

City fans have routinely booed the anthem for the past two seasons, with whistles and jeers attempting to drown out the remarkable pregame music when played on home soil. That is likely to be the case again at Ataturk as supporters continue their anti-Uefa stance.

While much of the resentment towards the continent’s governing body stems from Uefa finding Man City in breach of FFP rules in 2014 (they were fined £49m at the time), there were already complaints beforehand. One such protest arose after City were fined more for being a little late on the pitch for the second half of a match than Porto for racially abusing Mario Balotelli in another match.

But overall, the poor treatment of fans, including being unable to travel to an away game because home fans had been banned, has been widely seen as a spark, while investigations and allegations against City over the financial foul play are the fire that seems to irritate the followers a lot. There was, at one point, the possibility of City being shut out of European competition, but it was ultimately averted.

In 2015, a UEFA match delegate even cited City for booing the anthem, but was not punished for it after a committee opted to strike down the rules and allow clubs the free right to protest peacefully, in contrast with fining the clubs beforehand if they didn’t. protested against the competition or organization.

Later in 2019, Pep Guardiola hoped the fans would get more excited about the competition, but the boos have been very present on the run up to this season’s final and are likely to be heard once more before kick-off in Istanbul.