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City fans need to turn the Etihad Stadium into the Colosseum when Roma roll into town for tomorrow’s Champions League clash.

Aleks Kolarov believes the supporters have a big part to play in the two games against the Italian aces, which he believes will determine the Blues’ fate in Europe’s elite competition this season.

He says the Blues will face not only a hostile 80,000 crowd when they visit Rome in December, but will also feel the animosity wherever they go in the Eternal City.

And he feels City fans need to give Roma a taste of the same tomorrow night.

“In a game like this you have to feel you are playing at home – for the first couple of minutes our fans are good and crazy but then they calm down,” said Kolarov.

“We play a lot of European games and you see other fans come to our stadium and do it, so I hope our fans can do that tomorrow. We need them because it is a very important game.

“We need support at home. Away, we have great support, one of the best, but at home in my opinion we are a little bit quiet.”

Kolarov wants a repeat of the surge of noise and emotion that he feels helped carry the team to a draw against Chelsea last week after Pablo Zabaleta’s red card.

“During the game you are trying to focus on the match, but in the last game against Chelsea after Zaba was sent off, for five minutes the fans were unbelievable,” he said.

“Our fans are usually quiet at home but at that time they were amazing and I think we reacted, scored and had chances to win.”

City may go to the intimidating Stadio Olimpico on December 10 needing a result to qualify for the knockout phase, and Kolarov warns that will be a tough experience.

“We are going to feel that game very, very much, even before the game in the hotel, and everywhere,” he said.

“If that game is going to be crucial, once we arrive in Rome all our players will feel the atmosphere in the city.

“But this is sport and or players like to play in these games. There will be 80,000 people there giving it 100 per cent!”

And it is not just the fans City will have to cope with. Roma have begun the season in fine form, winning all five league games.

“They will come 100 per cent to try to take points from us – a draw will be OK for them here,” said Kolarov.

“They are a team that likes to play football, and that is a good thing because they will come and play, not to defend with 11 players like other teams do.

“The Premier League is one thing but Champions League is almost like another sport because you can’t allow yourself to make a mistake, like we did in the last minute in Munich.

“With a point in Munich we would have had chances to be first in the group. We lost our first game in the group a year ago as well and that is something we have to improve.

“We had a short meeting among ourselves after the game – some players have been here more than three years so we have quite big experience in Europe.

“If we want to do something big, we have to play well against big teams.

“We will try to get there this season, and how far we go is up to us.

“But this year we are even stronger and more experienced, and we have to go at least one step or two steps more than last season.

“We have a great squad and have to show that in the Champions League.

“A lot depends on the result tomorrow - the two games against Roma could be crucial and I hope we can beat them.”

City v AS Roma is tomorrow at 7:45pm. Tickets from £35 for adults and £15 for under-16s. Available to buy now at mcfc.co.uk/tickets