Manchester City’s under-18 side have finally been given a date for the under-18 Premier League national final – and it clashes with the first team’s FA Cup final clash against Crystal Palace.
Pep Guardiola’s will travel to Wembley Stadium a week today when they take on the Eagles at 4:30pm on Saturday, May 17.
And the under-18s will take on Aston Villa on the same date, and although the kick-off time of 1pm is different it takes the shine off the occasion as the majority of City fans will be focused on the first team aiming to win some silverware.
City’s under-18s have had a fantastic season, reclaiming the under-18 Premier League North title from rivals Manchester United last month.
They also reached the FA Youth Cup final where they were beaten 3-1 by Aston Villa at Villa Park last Monday and now they will face the young Villans in a rematch to be crowned national under-18 Premier League champions.
Villa won the southern division of the under-18 Premier League and the two sides will face off at Villa Park again next Saturday as City go in search of a second trophy this season and Villa go in search of a treble.
Speaking after the FA Youth Cup final defeat to Villa, under-18s coach Oliver Reiss said: “In terms of developing the players these are the games they can learn from.
“Playing football is not just talent, it’s performing in front of a crowd like this. Learning from this game can help them become first team players. This is the main target.
“We wanted to win but you could see we were struggling. We need more games like this in the future. We didn’t lose the game just because we were not 100 per cent or crowd or pressure.
“Villa are a good team. We were hungry in training, the week looked good. We tried to increase the focus and workload. They dealt with the challenges better than us.”
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