The 18-year-old Slovakian winger caught the eye in both legs of the Youth Cup final triumph, and his superb goal put the young Blues back into the lead after they had unluckily fallen behind early on.
It was Vladimir’s surging run that lead to the free kick, but he says it was not certain who would take it at first.
“I had a bit of confidence, I’ve done it so many times in training but Kieran Trippier said he wanted to take it as well. We had a little argument beforehand, but I took it and I’m so glad that it went in.”
Vladimir was also in the thick of it late on when another great run saw him hauled down for a penalty that David Ball converted, but the winger was more than happy for the striker to take it.
“I missed three from four in training the morning of the match,” he laughs, “so we were told that Bally would take the penalties, and he took it brilliantly.”
Ball’s goal saw the whole team run to the technical area to engulf coach Alex Gibson, as Vladimir explains:
“I’d said if I scored I’d run to him, but it was too far from the other side! When Bally scored I went over to him to thank him, he’s done so much for me and all the payers this season.
“Alex is a great coach, and Jim helps us out as well, but we knew before the game how much they wanted to win the Youth Cup. The skipper told us before that if we were going to win it, we were going to win it for them as well.”
Many of the last City team to lift the Youth Cup in 1986 went on to grace the first team, but Vladimir modestly says that any of his teammates could follow in their footsteps.
“We’ll just have to see who will be remembered, it might be me or someone else because we have so many good players.”
Highlights from the Youth Cup win are now available to watch on MCFCTV.com.
