Ben Wilkinson says our UEFA Youth League loss to Borussia Dortmund was a disappointing one.
We fell to a difficult 3-0 loss at the Joie Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
City looked the better team before Borussia Dortmund were awarded a penalty on the 40-minute mark. Taycan Etcibasi converted the spot kick before Thierry Fidjeu-Tazemeta doubled the visitor’s lead just before half-time.
Our young boys in blue tried to find a way back into the game, but a late Fadi Zarqelain goal confirmed victory for Dortmund and a second successive Youth League loss for our Under-19s.
“Yeah, hugely disappointing from our part,” began Wilkinson.
“Obviously the scoreline doesn’t reflect well, and I thought we deserved to lose, to be honest, in terms of I didn’t think we showed enough intent, enough courage with the ball before we conceded a goal.
“Even though I thought we had large chunks of the game and we dominated the ball, we didn’t show enough intent. We had numerous opportunities where we won the ball high up the pitch and didn’t have enough desire to go and play quickly and have shots on goal and take risks, and score goals.
“And I think in the first half they probably have two entries into our box and we are two-nil down.
“It was a really disappointing afternoon, second half we are chasing the game, it gets really messy and we didn’t create enough to try and get us back in the game so it was a very disappointing day.”
But one positive City could take was the depth of the squad, which saw two new European debutants in Teddie Lamb and Tyrone Samba.
“We knew today was going to be an opportunity for players to play who haven’t previously played,” said Wilkinson.
“Obviously, with the guys at the World Cup and some of the injuries we’ve got at the moment. So we knew that was always going to be a chance, and it’s certainly a good experience and one that hopefully they can learn from and grow from in the future.”
Watch Wilkinson’s post-match interview above...