Six days after City’s Under-19s recorded a famous 4-0 UEFA Youth League victory away at Real Madrid, our Under-21s play host to the iconic Spanish side, this time in the Premier League International Cup.
The clash, which gets underway at 19.00 (UK), is City’s second group game with Wilkinson’s young charges seeking to build on a thrilling 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven in our opening PLIC encounter.
It also marks our final game of 2025 before the players enjoy a well-earned break over the festive period after what has been a hectic first half of the campaign.
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For Wilkinson the thrill of welcoming such a special side as Real Madrid to Manchester goes without staying.
But he says the scale and reality of tonight’s challenge will be markedly different to what we saw in Madrid last week.
“We’re all really, really excited for the game,” the EDS lead coach said.
“I think I’ve been here at the Academy for eight years and we’ve never actually had this fixture.
“So, to get it, you know twice in a week is something that’s really exciting for everyone connected with the Academy.
“We are really looking forward to the fixture. Obviously, we had a real positive experience with it last week and if we can try to replicate that, then we’ll be in a really good place.
“But it will be a completely different challenge.
“I think if you look at the team that they’ve put out so far in this competition, it’s a much older team than what we would play typically last week. Much more like their B team as opposed to an Under 19 team.
“They are in a similar position to us in that they have a lot of injuries at first team level and secondly, they have a Copa del Ray match on Wednesday.
“And we are in a similar position of the fact that we have a Carabao Cup quarter-final on Wednesday.
“So there will probably be quite a few changes for both teams from the UEFA Youth League game and previous games in this competition.”
It’s the first time City have featured in the Premier League International Cup for almost a decade.
Tonight’s visit of Real is then followed in the New Year by home games against Monaco and PSV Eindhoven – and for Wilkinson the benefits and gains of taking part are myriad.
“It’s a new addition to our programme this year and one we spoke about during pre-season in terms of something that will challenge us,” Wilkinson added.
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“Then to get the draw we had was also really pleasing because we get the opportunity to play against four top sides in Real Madrid PSV Eindhoven, Red Bull Leipzig and Monaco.
“So, in terms of what it gives us to our programme, big tick and in an opportunity for other players to play who maybe don’t feature in the Youth League. big tick.
“All in all, I think it’s a no brainer to add it to the programme and hopefully we’ll see the benefits of that further down the line this season.”
