Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan wants supporters to embrace Champions League football

ILKAY GUNDOGAN describes it as a pleasure and a privilege to be playing for Pep Guardiola.

But he believes Manchester City’s fans should feel the same way when it comes to supporting his manager’s bid to bring Champions League glory to the Etihad.

The £20.4million German midfielder, 25, was as puzzled as Pep as he made his debut in Wednesday’s 4-0 destruction of Borussia Monchengladbach.

For yet again the Eithad fans booed the Champions League anthem as they continued their hate campaign against Uefa.

The attendance figure was only 30,270 — with almost 1,000 of those away fans — although the gate was not helped by a 24-hour rain delay.

But Guardiola made a point of telling his new club’s supporters to get over their contempt for Europe’s ruling body.

Instead, he asked them to get behind him and his team.

Guardiola, who arrived from Bayern Munich, won the Champions League twice with Barcelona and in seven seasons has never failed to reach the last four.

Gundogan knows what real supporter backing is all about having spent five years in front of Borussia Dortmund’s amazing “Yellow Wall”.

He insists Guardiola is right to demand the same sort of backing and said: “The Champions League is one of the biggest club stages you can reach and I think for players it is an honour to be part of it.

“Certainly for me. You just enjoy being a part of it playing against the best clubs in Europe.

“All supporters who come along should enjoy it, too.

“I agree with the manager. The fans can always be the extra man, but in the end it is all about what happens on the pitch.

“Certainly against Barcelona, who we have in the group, it helps.” Gundogan may be a new arrival, but he has earned some street cred to back his views.

Watch ALL the goals from the Premier League before anyone else for FREE plus all the latest news, fixtures and results and live match commentary all on the go with the new Sun Football App – click here to download