Last week, Ben Wilkinson’s Under-19s travelled to Spain for our final fixture in the League Phase of the UEFA Youth League.
Our young boys in blue put on a statement performance, winning 4-0 to see us confirm our place in the Round of 32 of the prestigious European competition.
Heskey scored a late brace to top off a clinical triumph that our Under-21s will be hoping to emulate this week.
We welcome Real Madrid to the Joie Stadium this time around, with the fixture to take place at 19:00 (UK) on Tuesday 16 December.
It’s our second group game of the Premier League International Cup following an exciting 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven in November.
Ahead of Tuesday’s clash, Heskey spoke on our Youth League win, what experience is gained from European games and how the team are bringing the excitement from last week’s victory into this week.
Q: Reigan, what a win over Real Madrid last week, it seemed like all the hard work and preparation that went into the game paid off?
“Yeah for sure. We worked really hard towards the game and everything played out how we wanted it to.”
Q: How different are games like that, playing on the European stage, is the preparation different?
“It’s pretty much the same but with English teams you kind of know what to expect. With European teams they can be different every time. So you do have to take it into consideration.
Q: How helpful will the game from last week be in terms of preparing for Tuesday?
“Our team and their team will probably be different teams as it’s two different competitions. But we’ll certainly watch back the Youth League game to help us prepare.”
Q: How much are you enjoying getting to play in European competitions?
“It’s definitely good for me. It’s on the big stage, you play teams from all over the place so it’s great exposure for all of us at such a young age and really helps us develop.”
Q: Finally, how much are you looking forward to playing Real Madrid again?
“We are really looking forward to it. We’ll use the excitement from the last game going into this game and the same hunger we had for that game too.”
Fans can watch the game live on CITY+.
And if you’d like to help bring the noise to the Joie Stadium on Tuesday evening, get your tickets for the game here.
