Martin Jol said he was stunned by the atmosphere
MARTIN JOL admitted that his battle-hardened Hamburg players were staggered by the atmosphere generated at the City of Manchester Stadium for Thursday night's UEFA Cup quarter-final second-leg thriller.
Hamburg, who were 3-1 up from the first leg in Germany, scraped through to the last four by holding City to a 2-1 victory on a night when Brazil midfield star Elano twice hit their woodwork from free-kicks.
But the Treble-chasing German team, so familiar with regular trips to formidable Bundesliga opponents such as Bayern Munich and Schalke, were momentarily thrown out of their stride as a 47,000 full-house went bananas.
Jol, who crossed swords with City as Tottenham manager, said: "I don't think I was the only one who knew about them, but I don't think a lot of the players expected the intensity and electricity of the crowd - the fans were probably our best opponent of the night."