Empty CSKA Moscow Stadium Must Not Deter Man City in Champions League Pursuit

Manchester City’s players and staff travelled to Moscow yesterday to prepare for Tuesday’s crucial Champions League match with CSKA in Group E. The game will be played behind closed doors after UEFA decided to punish CSKA for racist chanting by their supporters in last month’s clash with Roma. In Tuesday's match, only press and a small number of sponsors will be allowed in the stadium.

It will create a strange atmosphere, but City, who have taken just one point from their opening two matches, cannot allow it to deter them. Six points from their two games with CSKA are vital if they are to stand any chance of going through.

Speaking earlier this month, manager Manuel Pellegrini said his players must show they are capable of winning the game without relying on the atmosphere. "I don't think we must try to win with outside benefit of our team,” the City boss said. “I think we must try to win because we are better than CSKA, playing away or at home.

"If not, if we need those kinds of things to win the game, then I don't think we are a big team."

Having suffered a last-gasp defeat against Bayern Munich in their first group game followed by a disappointing draw at home to Roma at the end of September, City’s qualification chances are hanging by a thread. Only two wins in their next two group games against CSKA will give them any chance of going through.

Michael Regan/Getty Images

The key for the Blues will be playing with belief. It often appears they lack confidence when playing in the Champions League, with the swagger and killer instincts they demonstrate domestically rarely translating to the European stage.

CSKA, though, are the poorest side in Group E, and City, in every department, possess more quality than the Russian champions. They have lost both of their group games so far, and City beat them twice last season, including a 5-1 win at the Etihad.

Buoyed by three wins from their last three league games and Sergio Aguero’s four-goal haul against Tottenham on Saturday, City arrive in Moscow in an upbeat mood.

Aguero scored both City’s goals in last season’s 2-1 win in Moscow, and he is now being lauded as the finest striker in the Premier League after a devastating display to down Spurs at the weekend. The way he took his goals underlined his lethal ability in front of goal, and Pellegrini, who recently has rarely started the Argentinean multiple times in a week, must surely be ready to give him the nod on Tuesday night.

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

However, Frank Lampard won’t be involved after injuring his thigh against Spurs. Richard Jolly at ESPN believes the on-loan midfielder will have a scan to assess the damage but won’t be risked in Moscow, where he scored in the 2008 UEFA Champions League final as a Chelsea player.

Meanwhile, the Mirror’s Simon Mullock has uncovered a small group of City supporters who will make the trip to Russia for the game despite UEFA’s decision to play the match in an empty stadium.

Sixteen fans from Radcliffe will travel to Moscow and rent a flat overlooking the Khimki Arena, much like a group of Bayern Munich supporters did for their group game with CSKA earlier in the season, in a remarkable show of commitment they hope will be rewarded on the pitch.

Pellegrini knows only three points will do in this one.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and will be following the club from a Manchester base throughout the 2014-15 season. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.