‘Suffering from success’ - Man City fans’ Wembley celebrations defended following viral video

Twitter users have defended Manchester City’s fans after their reaction to Riyad Mahrez’s Wembley opener went viral.

A video of City supporters celebrating the Algerian’s penalty in the FA Cup semi-final victory over Sheffield United was viewed nearly seven million times on Twitter, with opposition fans poking fun at the low-key scenes in the City end.

However, other football followers have come to the defence of City fans and have pointed to the nature of goal and fixture to explain why supporters’ response was more reserved than the exuberant scenes in the Sheffield United section on Saturday.

“Two teams from the North having to travel down to Wembley for a semi-final! Why did we do away with proper neutral grounds for the semis?!,” tweeted @samkeencoach.

“I get it tbh. They beat most teams by 5 each week. Limbs happen when it’s a really important goal and goals against Sheffield United, just aren’t that important to City. I’d imagine it would be different if it was a last minute winner in the final,” @FPLMartial_ added.

“What IS pathetic is the official FA Cup Twitter page trying to mock City … just love the impartiality, imagine the fallout if we’d have ran on the pitch screaming,” said @RondiniBlue.

Meanwhile @OfficialVizeh, said the magic of Wembley has become somewhat diluted for City fans: “Man City fans have been to Wembley that’s overpriced to f** about 373 times in last 10 years, be there again next month,” he wrote. “This is their equivalent of playing at home to Forest Green, more casuals will come and regulars won’t go mad. Quite literally suffering from success.”

“City fans getting s*** for this but how else are you supposed to celebrate a goal in a routine win over much weaker opposition? Twitter weirdly seems to think fans should always do performative ‘limbs’ like every goal’s a last minute cup final winner,” tweeted @dannyschof81.

City won the semi-final 3-0 on Saturday with Riyad Mahrez netting a hat-trick for an understrength Blues side. Pep Guardiola rested John Stones, Ruben Dias, Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne ahead of Wednesday’s huge Premier League clash against Arsenal.