Manchester City’s disappointing 0-0 draw with Inter Milan to kick off the new Champions League format has drawn plenty of criticism for their on-pitch performance, but it has also seemingly drawn criticism for some off-pitch aspects of the game.
According to former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who spent eight years at City’s great rivals before joining the Citizens for the final season of his career, the atmosphere at the Champions League home opener was lacklustre, leading to his harsh assessment of the experience at the Etihad Stadium.
Schmeichel, who is the on-site reporter for the CBS Sports television broadcast in the United States, told the team he felt the atmosphere at the Premier League venue was flat.
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“I thought it was a really, really boring game, and I’m sorry to say that,” Schmeichel said when asked for his thoughts on the match. “I think Inter did a really good job of stopping Manchester City.”
When Jamie Carragher, who had just finished his speech about the “good draw”, asked him why he felt that way, Schmeichel blamed the Etihad Stadium crowd. “Because I love good football and I love the excitement of the crowd. The Etihad Stadium was dead, it was completely dead. The only people we could hear were the Inter fans who were quite good, but there was no atmosphere at the Etihad today. Normally you would expect big European nights… but they didn’t.”
But Schmeichel wasn’t done yet. When former Manchester City player Micah Richards, also on the CBS Sports studio, fired back, Schmeichel got even more aggressive.
“Are you disrespecting my club like this?” Richards asked incredulously. “What’s going on?”
Schmeichel retorted forcefully. “Micah, every once in a while, leave the studio, go out and experience it. Sit there and judge us on what we say.”
“There was no atmosphere at the Etihad today.” ?@Pschmeichel1 they said they would never counter the allegations ? pic.twitter.com/tJFIE61cBE
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) September 18, 2024
That seems a bit of an exaggeration, as Micah has said he was actually at the Etihad on Saturday for Manchester City’s win over Brentford in the Premier League. When told of this, Schmeichel stood firm. “They must have left the whole atmosphere there on Saturday, it was so flat.” [today].”
While he seemed to want to get away with facts that contradicted his arguments, Schmeichel may be right in his final assessment. Many regular Manchester City fans were shut out of the game by tickets that cost almost double what they paid in last season’s group stage.
Schmeichel has a history of taking a snippy stance toward his CBS Sports colleagues. Last season, while on the pitch with Carragher during a Borussia Dortmund Champions League game, Schmeichel was openly disturbed by Carragher’s jovial (and slightly drunken) demeanor.
“I’ve been working for four years to try to develop a good relationship with every single person at UEFA here and they’re all behind the camera telling us to shut up,” Schmeichel said with Carragher right next to him, in one of his many diatribes about his partner’s behaviour on the building site. “This guy came down the road once and drank eight pints, and ruined all the relationships.”
