Manchester City continued their perfect start to the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League campaign by winning their third successive game on Wednesday. They outwitted Swiss side Young Boys FC on a rainy night in Switzerland and had to really fight hard for the three points.
However, something that got the fans talking more than the game itself was the Cityzens’ pre-match activities. Just as Pep Guardiola and his players entered the stadium a few hours before the game, the TNT Sport cameras managed to catch the interesting attire that the players had worn as they got off the team bus.
While Guardiola wore his traditional suit, the players’ attire has caused quite a stir in the football community. All the players came out of the bus wearing a cardigan and jeans combination, which is quite unique and weird. Now, the cardigan was mostly to protect them from the cold temperature in Bern on Wednesday night.
However, the style of the cardigan and pairing it with jeans made a lot of fans weird. Many were surprised with how the cardigan was designed, having the names of the players imprinted on the back and the Man City symbol on the front. TNT Sport pundits Joe Cole and Joleon Lescott were disgusted by what they saw.
Cole ranted out about it and said: “(It’s) Unacceptable, to be honest. I’m not being funny right, the gaffer got out first and he looks like the milk tray man – he looks brilliant. ‘He looks round and I don’t care how many Trebles you win guys, you got to sort the gear out. It’s horrendous.”
Even Lescott, a former Manchester City player, agreed with that and simply said; “When it doesn’t look good on Jack Grealish, then I’m like, ‘yeah, there’s a problem.’” A lot of supporters were quite disgusted by what they saw as well, ranting about how bad the combination looks.
Well, these pre-match cardigans are designed by Canadian designers DSquared2 (Dean and Dan Caten). The designers originate from Canada but launched their label in Milan – with their attires having an inspiration by Italian style and fabric. The Cityzens have been partnered up with the brand for quite a few years now, with DSquared2 tasked to create stuff like cardigans, jackets and even jeans that players often wear before the matches.
For anyone wanting to find out who designed this attire for the players, then it was DSquared2. Interestingly, this cardigan isn’t exactly available to buy for fans yet on their online stores. What you can buy if you want are some bizarre Manchester City-inspired jackets, sweaters and jeans. These are just normal attires with the City logo or simply the name of the club imprinted on it.
They aren’t exactly cheap either mostly because DSquared2 uses the best kind of material. For example, a DSquared2 x Manchester City woollen jumper sweatshirt will cost you a whopping €450. They even make ankle boots for Manchester City fans with the name of the club imprinted on the top of it. These will cost you €698!
Only the Cityzens’ management will probably know the reason behind the partnership with this expensive brand, whose attires are something the fans will probably never buy. After seeing the backlash on these awful cardigans, perhaps the European champions have some rethinking to do in terms of what players wear to the matches.
