Pep Guardiola Talks Manchester City Fans' UCL Attendance, Sergio Aguero, More

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has urged Sky Blues fans to fill the Etihad Stadium on UEFA Champions League nights after Wednesday's delayed 4-0 home defeat of Borussia Monchengladbach was played out in front of half-empty stands.

City fans have long had a muted response to the Champions League, but Guardiola told supporters to forget the past and said his side could only go far in the competition with their support, per Press Association Sport (via Sky Sports):

"

I was not here for what happened but they must forget what happened in the past. We are here to create [history] for the people to talk about our club.

Only what we can do is play every time better than before so people say, "wow, I spent 90 minutes there and I had fun. Next time I will be there".

Today the stadium was not completely full so the only thing we can do is play good. We have to be so proud to play in this competition.

The people are listening to me so I am sure they are going to do that. I am going to work until the last moment to convince the people to come here to join us to see the Champions League games.

Our fans have to know we need them in the Champions League. We cannot make something good in the Champions League in the coming years without them.

Our players deserve the stadium completely full and hopefully against Barcelona and Celtic it is going to happen.

"

Undoubtedly one of the reasons the Eithad was not nearly full was because torrential rain forced the game to be postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday.

However, City fans have long had a lacklustre relationship with Europe's premier cup competition as well as a long-term dislike of UEFA, which prompts them to boo the tournament's anthem before every Champions League game, per Rob Pollard of the Manchester Evening News.

Even after last season's unprecedented run to the semi-finals—where City were edged out by Real Madrid—the Etihad faithful still seemed unable to drum up enthusiasm for the competition.

That may change after Guardiola's call to arms. The Spaniard has won the Champions League twice before as a manager—with Barcelona—and never failed to get to the last four, per the Daily Mail's Dominic King.

City have started the new season so well under his leadership that the Manchester outfit must already be considered genuine contenders to go all the way in the Champions League—Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe currently has them as the third-ranked side in Europe:

They were always expected to beat Gladbach at home, but Wednesday's victory was still impressive, including a hat-trick from Sergio Aguero—his second of the season—and a stoppage-time Kelechi Iheanacho strike.

Guardiola heaped praise on his star Argentinian striker after another stellar performance, per PA Sport (via Sky Sports): "Sergio is one of the best, no doubts about that. He has a special quality in the box. He's a special player."

He also gave a positive assessment of Ilkay Gundogan's City debut, the German having arrived at the Etihad for £20 million in the summer nursing a knee injury suffered in April: "[Gundogan] was not ready to play 90 minutes but played with the quality he has. Both feet, so intelligent, doesn't lose the ball, good arriving in the box and when attacking with the ball. His qualities are going to help us a lot."

Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

The excitement surrounding City after their excellent start to the season is warranted, not least after their brilliant first-half performance while winning 2-1 against Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday. 

However, the response to their first Champions League group-stage game of the season was disappointing, and The Independent's Ian Herbert praised Guardiola for criticising the attendance:

Given that Wednesday's game had been rescheduled, City's next home match in the Champions League, against Barcelona on November 1, should be a better indicator of Sky Blues fans' enthusiasm for the competition this term.

For a game of such huge profile, and after Guardiola's comments, it would be a surprise—and a fairly damning appraisal of the Champions League from City fans—to see anything but a full stadium.