Manchester City Players Pay Angry Fans After Losing To Team Most Have Never Heard Of
Saving face is costly sometimes.
Manchester City has endured the worst four-day stretch in its recent history, but some of the club's biggest stars are trying to save some face by getting on the good side of its supporters.
City had its 13-game unbeaten streak ended on Saturday courtesy of Manchester United in an ugly 2-0 defeat. Next on the slate was a Champions League league phase match on Tuesday against a club out of Norway called Bodø/Glimt. Stating the obvious, it was a get-right spot for City, but instead they went on the road and lost by a count of 3-1.
Roughly 400 City fans made the trek to the small town of Bodø and suffered through brutally cold temperatures to witness their team lose to a Norwegian club whose stadium has a capacity of 8,270. Those fans are having the money they spent on tickets refunded by a group of players on the team.
"Our supporters mean everything to us. We know the sacrifice our fans make when they travel across the world to support us and we'll never take it for granted," a statement shared by City's leadership group stated. "They're the best fans in the world. "We also recognise it was a lot of traveling for fans who supported us in the freezing cold throughout a difficult evening for us on the pitch. Covering the cost of tickets for the fans who traveled to Bodo is the least we can do."
The bill for the nearly 400 tickets amounts to nearly $13,400, which is a sum that not a single player on City's team would even notice leaving their bank account, but it's still quite the gesture.
Rodri was among the players who signed off on the statement to fans regarding the refund, and supporters certainly won't be mad about that after he was sent off with a red card in the 62nd minute against Bodø/Glimt, two minutes after City scored its first goal of the match.
Manchester City is still in good shape to finish inside the Top 8 in the league phase to punch a ticket straight to the Round of 16. Bodø/Glimt, even with its stunning win over City, sit 27th out of 36 teams in the Champions League standings.