Kompany questions City fans punishment

Manuel Pellegrini may have been unhappy at the temperatures in Moscow but it was Vincent Kompany who took some of the headlines the morning after City's 2-2 draw with CSKA when he publicly questioned why City fans had not been permitted inside the stadium.

"Why the hell do we not have any fans here? What have our fans done wrong? There's no fairness in it.

"You say no fans, all of a sudden you turn up and the team who has no fans is Man City. So who's getting punished? Who's being done for racism, Man City or Moscow?

"It needs to be looked at, it needs to be changed. Our fans shouldn't be punished."

The match was of course played behind closed doors due to the stadium suspension handed out to CSKA as a result of the racist chanting from their fans. That said, you had the couple of hundred or so VIPs in who were certainly audible on the TV feed but the punishment handed out to CSKA also directly affected City.

There is no doubt that the atmosphere was an unsettling one. An empty stadium is of course devoid of atmosphere and there is no doubt City's tempo dropped in the second half at 2-0 up. CSKA were always likely to come back into the game at some point given what we know about score effects, but at such a point this is where supporters can play a part.

With CSKA getting a foothold into the game appeared unable to respond or return to the levels seen in the first half. Now, at 2-0 up City only have themselves to blame for another collapse in Europe and there is a wider concern that there is an ability to maintain adequate concentration levels when holding a lead. This is true both in Europe and domestically, with the difference being City have not been punished domestically in quite such brutal fashion as they are in Europe.

Kompany's points remains valid nonetheless and if the decision is that no fans whatsoever are permitted to attend is there not a justification in saying that games should be played at a neutral venue as well, thus entirely nullifying any home advantage their City supposedly being punished have?