Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour has travelled to Istanbul to watch his side take on Inter Milan in the Champions League final.
Mansour bought City in 2008 from Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister of Thailand, but has only attended one match in the following 15 years. The 52-year-old, who is vice-president of the United Arab Emirates, was pictured in the VIP seats at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul wearing a Man City scarf.
City have won seven Premier League titles, three FA Cups and six League Cups since Sheikh Mansour took over, yet he has been absent for all of those occasions. The only previous game he has attended was way back in August 2010 when he was there at the Etihad Stadium to witness a 3-0 victory over Liverpool.
The Sheikh, whose full name is Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, was sat with City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak, who is a much more familiar face at matches. He was expected to greet manager Pep Guardiola and the players before kick-off to wish them luck. After the final whistle, he will jet back to Abu Dhabi.
Sheikh Mansour missed the 2021 Champions League final that City lost 1-0 to Chelsea in Porto. But he has made the trip from Abu Dhabi for the much-anticipated final this season, with City aiming to win an historic Treble after winning the Premier League and FA Cup.
City are the firm favourites to beat Inter and pick up their first ever Champions League trophy. Pep Guardiola’s side breezed through the group stages before seeing off RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the knockout stages.
Sheikh Mansour is the brother of the current president of the UAE, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nayhan, who is estimated to have a personal fortune of £16.8bn, and was sat next to him at the game. Sheikh Mansour is in charge of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, estimated to be worth £799bn.
Despite his absenteeism, Sheikh Mansour’s name is regularly sung by City fans, while a banner with his name on is also hung at the Etihad Stadium for home matches. He has also not been to a single match involving other clubs in the City Football Group: New York City, Melbourne City, Mumbai City and Yokohama F Marinos.
The Athletic reports that he does watch most City games on television from his family residence in the UAE. He will be expecting Guardiola and his players to deliver on the trophy that has so far eluded him as Man City owner.
"Every single game we play during the season, this press conference how many people here. We know how important the competition is," Guardiola said pre-match when asked about dealing with pressure.
"I don't control what the people have an opinion about, just focus on what we have to do. I saw as many Inter games to see what we have to do. At the end it's a football game. The team who perform better over 95 minutes will win. Over history, Inter are bigger than us. It's not important. Important is tomorrow at 10pm Istanbul time we do the best performance as possible."
