Manchester City fans pour into Istanbul ready to see off ‘City-itis’

A s they introduced their sky blue shirts to Istanbul’s blue mosque and posed beside a giant cup on Taksim Square, there was a question on the lips of many of the older fans in particular: could this really be the moment they officially vanquish the curse of “City-itis”?

A win on Saturday evening against Internazionale of Italy in Istanbul’s 75,000-capacity Atatürk Olympic Stadium will not only deliver Manchester City their first Champions League – the club’s second piece of European silverware in its 140 year history – but complete what newspapers are duty bound to report as the “historic treble”: a slam-dunk haul of the Uefa Champions League, FA Cup and Premier League title.

It is a feat achieved only once before by an English side, and that was by their local rivals Manchester United, in the 1998-99 season when City were at their lowest ebb, fighting to get out of the third tier of the domestic leagues.

High on the back of cruising past Arsenal in the league and United in the FA Cup final last weekend, City are far and away the bookmakers’ favourites, and opposing fans generally have a feeling for what is to come.

“We’ve nothing to lose”, said Francesco Camisso, 50, a banker from Milan, as he posed by giant football on Taksim Square. “We have heart but Manchester City are a very powerful team”, added Stefana Mattero, 27, an electrician, with a shrug.

Yet, the diagnosis by Joe Royle, City manager in the tumultuous 1998-2001 period, of “City-itis”, that fear held deep within the club’s fanbase that if something can go wrong that it will go wrong and that even things that shouldn’t go wrong, still tend to do so, lingered in the humid air of the Turkish city on Friday.

“They don’t remember”, said Chris Danson, 57, an