da esoccer bet： Pep Guardiola's side have won their last 15 matches at home and have not lost there in the Champions League since 2018 – Real Madrid have been warned

da luck： Boisterous away fans love to mock a quiet atmosphere by chanting "Is this a library?". But on Sunday at a solemn Goodison Park while on their way to victory over Everton, Manchester City's visiting supporters began chanting "Is this the Etihad?".

The atmosphere at the Etihad – or 'the Emptyhad', as Manchester United fans like to refer to it – has become so widely derided over the years that now even City fans are laughing at it, albeit with their tongues firmly planted in their cheeks.

But despite years of criticism about wavering attendances and a lack of noise, sometimes from Pep Guardiola himself, City have quietly turned their home ground into a hugely intimidating stadium for visitors. This season, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, RB Leipzig, Manchester United and Arsenal have all felt the might of Fortress Etihad, where City have won their last 15 matches in all competitions.

After holding Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw last week at Santiago Bernabeu, City are feeling confident that they can finally get one over the aristocrats of European football. And looking at the Etihad Stadium, you can see why Jack Grealish declared last week that they feel "unstoppable" at home…

Getty ImagesFive years without defeat

The last time City failed to win at home was, bizarrely, against Frank Lampard's Everton back in December. Their last defeat at home was against Brentford in November. But their last home defeat in the Champions League was all the way back in September 2018, when they were beaten 2-1 by Lyon.

Since then, they have played 25 matches at home in Europe's top competition and won 23 of them, drawing just twice. Both draws were matches City had little motivation to win, a 0-0 in the last-16 second leg against Sporting CP last season – having won the first leg 5-0 – and a 1-1 against Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2019-20 group stage, when Guardiola's side had already qualified for the knockout rounds.

In those 25 matches, in which they have a 92 percent win rate, they have scored 81 times and conceded just 18. Their seamless home record puts other European heavyweights to shame. Real Madrid have lost six home games in the Champions League since September 2018, while Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain have lost five, Barcelona four and Bayern Munich two.

The fact that City have not been able to win a Champions League under Guardiola is nothing to do with their results at home, it is in spite of their tremendous record there.

In the five times City have failed to reach the final under the Catalan, four of their eliminations have come down to their away results: the 3-1 defeat at Monaco, the 1-0 loss at Tottenham, the 3-1 defeat after extra-time at Real Madrid and the 3-1 loss against Lyon in Lisbon due to coronavirus restrictions.

AdvertisementGettyA history of apathy

It is true that City have not always had the most enthusiastic attitude towards the Champions League. The team did not make their debut in the competition until 2011 and they failed to get out of the group stage in their first two years in it, when Roberto Mancini was in charge.

The more experienced they became in Europe, the better they performed, and they have reached the knockout stages every year since the 2013-14 season. But there was still a level of apathy towards the competition, and City rarely sold out their stadium for Champions League matches, particularly in the group stage.

City fans have also booed the Champions League anthem for as long as they have been in it. The booing began as a response to Mario Balotelli being racially abused by Porto fans in a Champions League game in 2011, but became most prominent after City were found guilty by UEFA of breaching Financial Fair Play rules.

The whistling of the anthem intensified when UEFA investigated the club again in 2019 for circumventing FFP following the publication of documents by Football Leaks.

Getty ImagesGuardiola fans the flames

Guardiola, who had won the Champions League twice with Barcelona and reached the semi-final stage seven years in a row before joining City in 2016, initially found it hard to understand fans' indifference to a competition he was deeply immersed in.

After his first Champions League match as City coach against Borussia Monchengladbach, which only 30,000 fans attended, Guardiola told City fans to "forget what has happened in the past". And in the 2018-19 season, when City got off to a difficult start in the group stage after that surprise defeat to Lyon, he urged the fans to show more enthusiasm for the Champions League and support the team more in home matches.

“We have to be pushed by everyone surrounding Manchester City that we have to win it – and we still don’t have that feeling from the fans,” he said. “I feel we’re a really good team, but you still need something special to win the Champions League and still I don’t feel it. But every year we’ll get closer and sooner or later it’s going to happen."

These comments did not go down well with City fans, but they were most incensed when he criticised the low attendance for the 6-3 win over RB Leipzig in last season's group stage, when 38,000 supporters made it into the Etihad, which holds 54,000.

After the match, Guardiola told the fans to come out in force for their next league match, against Southampton. He said: “I would like more people to come to the next game on Saturday. We will need the people next Saturday, please, because we will be tired. I invite all our people to come next Saturday, 3pm, and watch the game."

The manager's words might have sounded innocuous but they touched a nerve with supporters, who interpreted them as questioning City fans' commitment and handing ammunition to the club's rivals.

Getty'Fans won't leave us alone'

Guardiola seems to have learned from that incident and his relationship with the fans seems to have healed. "We've got Guardiola" is one of the most common chants at City games, and the manager was full of praise for the way the fans have taken to the Champions League.

"Of course they embrace it, they are used to playing it and arriving at the last stages, it is sold out and we’ll try to do a good game," he said Tuesday's pre-match press conference ahead of the meeting with Madrid. "I know the fans will be close to us, they know what we’ve done, they will not leave us alone, they will in the bad moments they will be with us. Our game will dictate what we have to do, but in the bad moments they will be there."

City had no problems selling out the quarter-final first leg against Bayern, and before the match thousands of fans braved the rain to wait outside and greet the team bus, the air thick with blue smoke. Similar scenes are expected on Wednesday evening.