Head coach Ben Wilkinson urged City’s Under-19s to heed the lessons in the wake of a hugely frustrating 2-1 UEFA Youth League loss away to Villarreal.
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EDS & Academy
City U19s fall to narrow UEFA Youth League defeat at Villarreal](https://www.mancity.com/news/eds-academy/villarreal-man-city-match-report-uefa-youth-league-63896635)
The City youngsters created a host of chances in eastern Spain and also saw a first half Divine Mukasa penalty miss the target.
Though midfielder Mukasa did find the target with a superb second half strike, it wasn’t enough to overcome two first half Villarreal strikes that came in a decisive 15-minute spell.
It marked our first loss of the 2025/26 UYL campaign and for the Blues’ head coach the learnings were crystal clear as he reflected on the result.
“It’s a real big lesson for us in terms of the level we need to be at both in this competition and in senior football.” Wilkinson pointed out.
“And how you have to be so clear, accurate and precise in all details of the game.
“I just felt for 15 or 20 minutes in the first half we weren’t that and we’ve lost the game because of it.
“They had three shots on goal and two on target and we had something like 16.
“The nature of the goals were really disappointing and at this level you will get punished.
“We created more than enough moments to win the game and were much better in the second half but that 15/20 minutes cost us.”
Play the video to watch Wilkinson’s interview in full…