Manchester City apologizes for fans interrupting Liverpool's Hillsborough moment of silence
The preceding moments of Saturday's FA Cup semifinal between Manchester City and Liverpool saw some ugliness when a group of City fans interrupted a moment of silence recognizing the Hillsborough disaster.
Minutes before kickoff, referee Michael Oliver blew his whistle to begin the reflection of the disaster that saw 97 Liverpool fans die and hundreds more injured in a crush at an FA Cup semifinal on April 15, 1989. Per the Associated Press, the silence was disturbed by chanting from the Manchester City end of the stadium and followed by boos from Liverpool supporters.
Oliver opted to end the moment of "silence" early by blowing his whistle.
La afición en City rompiendo el minuto de silencio por la tragedia de Hillsborough… https://t.co/JBkV9u263b pic.twitter.com/1u01gO0DWc
— Guillermo Rai (@GuillerRai) April 16, 2022
Manchester City quickly released a statement of apology, via the BBC:
"Manchester City are extremely disappointed with the actions of some City supporters during the minute's silence before today's game," a club spokesperson said.
"The club sincerely apologises to all those connected with Liverpool Football Club."
The interrupting fans probably didn't enjoy the match that followed, as Liverpool scored three first-half goals and eventually won 3-2 to advance to the FA Cup final.
After the match, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola echoed his club's apology, saying the chanters "don't represent who we are," while Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp said he accepts the apology, via ITV:
"In that moment, I felt it was a really strange feeling, because I thought there are moments in football where all the rivalries we should put aside. This is one of those moments, but you cannot change it. I'm pretty sure it was not all of the City supporters. More some of the City supporters. And hopefully they got a proper word from the guys, from the people around them as well. And it's obviously not about Manchester City. There are a few people who obviously didn't understand the situation."
