Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany criticised the ban on away fans after his side's 2-2 Champions League draw behind closed doors at CSKA Moscow.

Kompany said City had been punished unfairly after the game was played in a near-empty stadium, with fans banned over previous CSKA disturbances.

"Why the hell do we not have any fans here? What have our fans done wrong? There's no fairness in it," he said.

Despite the ban, a group of vocal CSKA supporters watched from the main stand.

City were pegged back on Tuesday despite taking a 2-0 lead in the first half, and are without a win from their opening three games in Group E.

UEFA ordered the Russian club to play three Champions League home games without any fans present as punishment for a series of offences including racist chanting.

However, it did appear that a sizeable number of the 650 people allowed into the match, possibly from an allocation of about 300 tickets set aside for sponsors, were CSKA fans.

"You say no fans, all of a sudden you turn up and the team who has no fans is Man City. So who's getting punished? Who's being done for racism, Man City or Moscow?" said 28-year-old Belgian Kompany.

"It needs to be looked at, it needs to be changed. Our fans shouldn't be punished."

The fans inside the stadium made their presence felt, chanting throughout, and City manager Manuel Pellegrini did not disagree with suggestions this could have influenced a late penalty decision for the home side.

"I don't know who has permission to give entrance to all those people, but really it is not my duty. I don't want to talk about the referee or other things. I don't want to be punished again," he said.

City are understood to have brought the issue about supporters to the attention of Uefa.

CSKA media director Sergey Aksenov said: "Those people you are talking about are 360 people from the Uefa Champions Club - partners, sponsors.

"If they are CSKA fans they are good for us. Everyone is invited by Uefa, not CSKA."

Pellegrini, who was handed a two-match touchline ban for criticising a referee last season, said his team were not helped by the icy weather.

"Moscow is so cold that it is very difficult to maintain motivation," he said.

Despite the defeat, Pellegrini is confident his side can still progress to the next stage.

"We have nine points left to play for, of course we can still qualify," he told the club's website.

City are third after three games with their remaining matches at home to CSKA Moscow and Bayern Munich before a trip to Roma, who were thrashed 7-1 at home by Bayern Munich.
(BBC)