50.2k Isn't that bad for a Tuesday night no matter what the City haters say. Last I checked the capacity is 53.4k since they reduced it for the LED hoardings at pitch side. The away section used to be around 3k seats, not sure what it is now though. If the whole second tier of the away section was returned by Red Star, at a guess that accounts for around 1k of the 3.2k unsold. Just over 2k on City's part isn't that bad.
Still... for a club that is planning a stadium expansion, who wants to be at the same level as Liverpool and United in stature, we should all want games sold out. It's better for the club which is better for the fans long term.
It's fair to say there just isn't the same enthusiasm for games like this as there is for league games amongst the core support. If it's not a game against a top club or likely to make for an exciting game of football, for many, it doesn't matter what competition it's played in. I find it hard to believe Liverpool and United core supporters would be stoked for a game like this, as much as they dress up it up, and eluogise what a priveledge it is just to hear the music at the beginning.
Maybe I'm wrong but it's probably one of the games the foreign fans snap up because they're waiting to see any game, since there's a lot of them. We've still some catching up to do on that, it would seem. Last season, these games seemed to be selling out because everyone wanted to see Haaland. I was hoping it would continue but if it doesn't it's good to hear about the efforts being made to get ahead of situations like this to improve the atmosphere. It's better than just accepting it, so credit to all of those putting the effort in. I think I can see the end goal there. If you know the atmosphere is going to be good, regardless of how the game is going to go, that would surely count for something.
