Kyle Walker States That it's Down to the Players to Create an Atmosphere for UCL Games at the Etihad

Manchester City defender Kyle Walker has stated that it's down to the players to give the club's supporters a reason to "create an atmosphere" for Champions League games, following a number of quiet European nights at the Etihad.

Many fans currently boycott European games due to long standing ill-feeling towards the governing body over the punishment the club received for breaching Financial Fair Play rules in 2014.

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Getting fans in their seats at the Etihad just became harder too as the club are heading into their home game with Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday amid more potential FFP trouble for the club.

Walker said (via the Mirror): “It is down to us, as players, to create the atmosphere in there and help the fans. They are the 12th man [but] we have an important job on the field to get the victory and we need to make history for this club - and that is what we want to do.

“Obviously you do want the atmosphere, as it makes it difficult for the opposition to play when you have got the atmosphere. We do probably lack that a little bit but we have come to terms with that and we have to let our football do the talking.”

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Before the away fixture against Shakhtar a fortnight ago, City manager Pep Guardiola stated his side weren’t ready to go on to win the Champions League until the fans get behind them.

That might just be further away now with this new evidence coming out showing the club hiding image rights payments to the players via an overseas company, and many clubs calling for more sanctions and punishments to be handed out to City.

Despite this, Walker does feel the club are in a better position this season to have success in the competition, and can put right what went wrong last season in this competition.

“I felt last season we had a great chance but we came up against Liverpool who were on fire and we had two 10 minutes of madness in the first leg which let it go for us.

“But we have learned from that. It was a good lesson to learn and hopefully we can take it into this campaign and come with a front foot forward.”