For all their domestic success, Champions League glory continues to elude Manchester City. 

Pep Guardiola's men were among the favourites last season but were knocked out at the quarter-final stage as they suffered VAR heartache in the dying seconds against Tottenham. 

On the back of consecutive Premier League titles, their fans would dearly love to go one better and conquer Europe like Liverpool have done. 

Or so you'd have thought, anyway. 

City supporters have long had a complex relationship with the competition. 

The UEFA Champions League anthem, music to most football fans' ears, is regularly booed at the Etihad. 

That's in protest at the governing body's stance on Financial Fair Play and their threats to clamp down on City's spending. 

Their fanbase are never all that enamoured with the tournament, not least because they have so often had relatively easy group games. 

The 2019/20 draw has pitted them against tonight's opponents Atalanta, as well as Dinamo Zagreb and Shakhtar Donetsk. 

All the games have gone to general sale amid fears City will struggle to sell out - and not for want of cheap tickets either, as they've very sensibly priced the game at just £20 for adults. 

So, City have taken matters into their own hands. 

The club appear to be advertising on an app for social media influencers, Tribe, asking people to help them promote 'what it's like to be at a football match'. 

These influencers - preferably 'Mancunians and/or Manchester City fans' - though that doesn't seem to be an actual requirement, are asked to film the "electrifying atmosphere" to encourage students and those who are new to the area to come and watch the team. 

Righto. 

Just look at that atmosphere (which may or may not be from the away end, you decide...)

To make matters worse, City have seemingly accompanied the advert with a statement disrespecting their group stage opponents - who they insist are "relatively unknown". 

"The Champions League this year has given us 3 relatively unknown teams meaning our core fans are less likely to attend," it reads.

"We identified students, young professionals and those new to Manchester who are our ideal audiences, however we can't ignore core fans either as they still account for most ticket sales.

"We want to get across the great atmosphere of the Etihad through the use of influencers who can tell an authentic and genuine story of what it's like to be at a game."

And just like that, modern football has officially gone mad.