Our Under 19s have been drawn against last season’s Croatian champions in the knockout stages after Hajduk knocked out Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 in the play-offs.
The game, which will be shown live on CITY+ and Recast, gets underway on Tuesday at 13.00pm (UK).
Domestically, our EDS side have established a benchmark for excellence.
Having won the PL2 title for the past two seasons, last Saturday’s superb 5-0 win over Everton sent us five points clear at the top of this season’s table.
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However, this is the first time we have qualified for the knockout stages of the UEFA Youth League since 2018.
And now with a quarter-final place against Paris Saint-Germain or Borussia Dortmund up for grabs, Barry-Murphy spoke of his excitement ahead of the trip to the Stadion Poljud.
“I can’t wait to see how our players have progressed and will perform under such an extreme test going to a club like Split,” Barry-Murphy declared.
“It will be a great atmosphere there. They are a very strong team who performed excellently against Shakhtar and Split will be preparing for this game in exactly the same manner and putting all their preparation in.
“It will be a great examination for us and no doubt there will be a host of difficult circumstances to overcome and if we can do that then we are capable of playing very well on the day.
“We are always looking to ways to measure our players and to measure them in the highest level of Under-19s football is exactly what this tournament is about and one that we relish.”
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The incentive for the winners of Tuesday’s one-off tie will be a quarter final trip to tackle either PSG or Dortmund, whom we met in the group stages.
City’s sole focus though is trained on trying to overcome a talented Hajduk side.
And, irrespective of the result, according to the EDS boss, the experience of playing abroad will constitute a key part of his players’ overall development.
“To go to such a difficult venue in another country, it is priceless for us to be able measure our players,” Barry-Murphy added.
“From the club’s point of view, the most valuable thing is to test our players against the best in Europe and give them a taste of what it looks like for someone to progress towards that in senior football.
“It’s an amazing competition and one that I am thrilled to be involved with and hopefully Tuesday will be another great day for us.”
