Paul Scholes has had a pop at Manchester City fans for failing to sell out yet another big game at the Etihad.

“The crowd need to get behind this team they need to create a special European atmosphere,” Scholes 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. At quarter past seven and there’s empty seats everywhere.”

In City’s first ever season in the Champions, there were 2,000 empty seats for their first game against Napoli and 4,000 empty seats for their second game against Villarreal.

In their second season, there were close to 6,000 empty seats against Ajax, but the most alarming of all was probably the 2,000 empty seats last season when their team played champions of Europe, Bayern Munich.

Still, tonight’s attendance figures should come as no surprise, given there were close to 15,000 empty seats for their recent game against Sheffield Wednesday when tickets were just £15, with the away fans selling out their allocation.