Manchester City suffered a disastrous defeat against FK Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League, during the penultimate league phase round, one that could have consequences because now City is forced to win the upcoming match next week to secure a top 8 finish and avoid playing a knock-out play-out round.
Pep Guardiola's squad travelled for the first time to Norway, to face a team that finished their regular league season on November 30 (finishing runner-ups in the Norwegian league Eliteserien behind Viking) and has been only playing Champions League matches and some friendlies... and still suffered a 3-1 defeat, with Ballon d'Or Winner Rodri seeing a red card. Erling Haaland even said that the result was "embarrassing".
About 374 Manchester City supporters travelled to Norway, with temperatures below zero, to watch the match, and knowing that they let them down, the players have decided to pay for the supporters' ticket costs. City's captaincy group, made of Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias, Rodri, and Erling Haaland, said that "our supporters mean everything to us. We know the sacrifice that our fans make when they travel across the world to support us home and away and we will never take it for granted. They are the best fans in the world."
"We also recognise that it was a lot of travelling for the fans who supported us in the freezing cold throughout a difficult evening for us on the pitch", the players added. A game ticket cost about £25, so the players will pay about £9,357. "Covering the cost of these tickets for the fans who travelled to Bodo is the least we can do."
According to BBC, the gesture has been well received by the supporters' club (OSC), and some fans had already asked for the tickets to be refunded. Manchester City has started a very uneven 2026, with two losses and three draws in all competitions.