Why do Man City fans boo the UEFA Champions League anthem?

MANCHESTER CITY hosted Lyon at the Etihad Stadium in their Champions League opener, only to lose 2-1.

To add more tension to the shock upset, there was the inevitable return of booing by the City fans for the European competition’s anthem. But why?

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This is not something that happened overnight, rather several decisions that has built a dislike in a majority of the club’s supporters towards UEFA.

It started during their 2011-12 Europa League campaign, when Porto were fined just $32,000 when their fans racially abused former City striker Mario Balotelli.

This is despite the Cityzens receiving a $48,000 fine just a month later for returning to the pitch 30 seconds late for the second half in their fixture against Sporting Lisbon.

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Their dislike continued in 2014 when UEFA hit them with a $89m fine for falling foul of the Financial Fair Play rules, along with transfer spending and squad size restrictions.

Tensions reached its peak later that year, when City fans had pre-booked flights and hotel rooms for their match with CSKA Moscow, only to learn the Russian club had a stadium ban.

While understandable after their fans’ racial abuse and behaviour, some City supporters still attempted to get in, only to be stopped - yet hundreds of CSKA fans were inside, in front of UEFA delegates.

No sanctions or consequences for it - but the Moscow outfit had their ban reduced on appeal.

This story originally appeared in The Sun.

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