Last season, City went out of the NextGen Series at the group stages but after a strong start to the league season, there is plenty of cause for cautious optimism ahead of this year’s campaign.
PSG boast an academy that has produced current first-team players like Mamadou Sakho, Adrien Rabiot and Loick Landre that now play alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic and co, so Lombardo will know how tough this match is likely to be.
Tournament rules dictate that City must include players aged 18 and below, though there is an exception for three players between 18 and 19-years old.
Because of this, Lombardo is expected to field an under-18/EDS hybrid team for this, the first match of City’s second NextGen Series campaign.
City EDS beat Middlesbrough 4-0 in their last encounter which took place at the Etihad Stadium on Friday night. Despite the comprehensive nature of the scoreline, Lombardo was far from satisfied.
“I am not happy – I’m happy that we won but we didn’t play well, we played lazy and we weren’t quick enough,” he said.
We are a new team and because we’ve changed the training programmes, I think it’s been difficult for my guys to understand what I’m trying to get them to do but I think that, given time, we can be a very good team.
...Attilio Lombardo...
Jordy Hiwula opened his goal-scoring account for the season with a brace in last Friday’s match and the striker admitted that it felt good to get off the mark.
“It’s always pleasing to score goals, especially at our home stadium as I come here to watch the first team here every week and I’ve always wanted to play there.”
England youth international Hiwula is expected to retain his place in the line-up for Thursday’s match at Hyde FC, playing in front of Denis Suarez, Marcos Lopes and George Evans in the City midfield.
Tickets for the 7pm kick-off are on general sale from the stadium ticket office only.
A limited number of reserved seats are available priced at £5 Adults, £1 Concessions.
Standing tickets are available priced at £3 Adults, £1 Concessions.
Please note that no loyalty points will be awarded for this fixture.
Full ticket information.
