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Scholes: City fans to blame

Cape Town - Former Manchester United ace Paul Scholes has blamed a lack of atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium for Manchester City’s underwhelming performances in the Champions League.

The English Premier League champions lost 1-0 away to Bayern Munich in their first group stage game and slumped to a 1-1 draw against Roma in their second on Tuesday night, this time on home soil.

Scholes, who won the Champions League twice with United, criticised City’s fans for failing to create the special feeling he experience at Old Trafford during his playing days.

"The crowd need to get behind this team they need to create a special European atmosphere,' Scholes, in his role as pundit on ITV, said.

"I was lucky enough to play at Old Trafford and we always talked about the atmosphere on a Tuesday night, the special atmosphere you create, and the crowd is rocking when you go out for a warm up.

"When you come here it just doesn't have a European night feel to it. You go to Liverpool, you go to Old Trafford, you go to Chelsea, they have a special feeling for it.

"Tonight I don't think there is [a special atmosphere]. I don't think they realise what a big game this is.

"They've got the team, they've definitely got the players, the quality is definitely there, but do the crowd realise how lucky they are to be in this competition? I don't think they do."

City are currently extending the Etihad’s capacity from 47,670 to 62,170, and expect the redevelopment to be completed by the start of next season.

However, only 37,509 attended Tuesday night’s game, leading Scholes to Citizens' fans for not packing out the stadium.
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