Patrick Vieira’s men arrived in Oberndorf, a small town next to the Black Forest and home to the International u19 Tournament on Thursday night.
Although the location is lower key than the glitz of Munich’s Allianz Arena, there is nothing laid-back about this opposition as City’s u19 selection lock horns with some of world football’s most storied names.
City have been drawn in Group B alongside Borussia Mönchengladbach, Fluminense and Team Black Forest for the competition.
New EDS boss Vieira is still awaiting his first win after Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to League One Shrewsbury Town but he’s looking forward to his first competitive games in charge.
“It will be really exciting, I can’t wait,” Vieira declared after Saturday’s game, “Of course we have lost three friendly games so far but I think there is more than just results to look at in pre-season, the way we improve game after game is really encouraging.
“Physically we are getting better, we are in a good place but this tournament is another step on the way to get these players up to their peak match fitness.
“It’s going to be really interesting to face teams from different countries in Oberndorf and we go there with ambitions to win the tournament but most importantly, I want it to be really difficult to pick my squad for the first league game of the season against Fulham.”
...Patrick Vieira...
The tournament format dictates that teams play two 25 minute halves per match and face their first two group games on Friday afternoon.
From Group A, two of FC Schalke 04, SC Freiburg, Benfica and/or Cruz Azul await in the semi-final.
City will be making their third-consecutive appearance at the Oberndorf Tournament after the Blues debuted in 2011 with a runners-up finish.
Last year, a young Blues outfit finished in fourth place at the competition after losing to Freiburg in the semi-final.
We’ve travelled with the team to Germany for the tournament which kicks off for City with the match against Mönchengladbach at 3:15pm BST on Friday.
Goal updates, match reports, interviews and highlights will be across the website and on Twitter for all three days.
