Manchester City crashed out of the UEFA Youth League at AZ Alkmaar with a heart-breaking 94th-minute goal sending the Dutch youngsters through.
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WIJDEWORMER - Manchester City FC O19 coach Ben Wilkinson during the UEFA Youth League match between AZ Alkmaar O19 and Manchester City O19 at the AZ training complex on April 2, 2025 in Wijdewormer, Netherlands. ANP | Hollandse Hoogte | GERRIT VAN KEULEN (Photo by ANP via Getty Images)
WIJDEWORMER - Manchester City FC O19 coach Ben Wilkinson during the UEFA Youth League match between AZ Alkmaar O19 and Manchester City O19 at the AZ training complex on April 2, 2025 in Wijdewormer, Netherlands. ANP | Hollandse Hoogte | GERRIT VAN KEULEN (Photo by ANP via Getty Images)
Six weeks ago, Divine Mukasa stepped up from twelve yards and chipped a Panenka off the crossbar and over the line to help Manchester City to a first UEFA Youth League knockout win in seven years.
It was a risk, and it almost didn't pay off. But that is Mukasa's style and has led to 15 goals and 24 assists this season in just 34 appearances. His under-18 coach Oliver Reiss calls him 'brilliant', 'unbelievable', and 'incredible', and scouts are flocking to youth games to see what the fuss is all about.
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However, with that brilliance comes the element of risk and City saw that first hand in their Youth League quarter-final in the Netherlands on Wednesday.
On a night where Nico O'Reilly started in the Premier League for the first time knowing he would be eligible for a Youth League medal if City got that far having started earlier in the campaign, Mukasa had the chance to be the hero. When City won a second half penalty, he put the ball on the spot, feigned to step back but took the penalty quickly almost from a crouching position.
It lacked power, the goalkeeper was alert, and Alkmaar celebrated infront of a tightly-packed crowd. And as penalties loomed, the hosts found a winner to add City to their list of scalps this season on top of Manchester United and Real Madrid. City got as further than they have since 2018, but that won't make it hurt any less.
Txiki Begiristain judges City's Youth League progress as a marker of development more than any other competition. So it's positive to see back-to-back knockout games won away from home and another lost so late, yet Mukasa's penalty leaves the tempting question of what could have been.
The reaction from the young players has been silent, reflecting their age and nature of the defeat. But head coach Ben Wilkinson saw the positives and feels his squad can take it into their title pushes at both under-21 and under-18 level.
“The lads have matured a lot over the season in terms of transitioning from a youth football player to something that looks like a more senior football player,” Wilkinson told City's media, measuring development in more than simply results.
“And there was so many pleasing things individually and as a collective that there is loads for us to take out of it in terms of the learning and development for the players.
"We always speak about arriving in this part of the season and trying to be in a position where we have these moments and we’ve done that. Obviously we want to win the games, but with a development hat on, you can still look at this and think where can we get better, where can we learn and the players can have some fantastic experiences along the way.”
The under-21s face Fulham on Monday in their penultimate Premier League 2 fixture of the regular season. Win, and City lock in first place against their second-placed opponents ahead of the end-of-season play-off system among the top 16. The under-18s are five points ahead of Manchester United with five games left, having played one game more.
Add the FA Youth Cup semi-final at Watford on Thursday for the under-18s and an academy treble remains on. There is no trophy for finishing first in the Premier League 2, but the Fulham fixture is essentially a one-off final for first while the under-18s could be set for a National Final if they win the U18 Premier League North ahead of United. And Wilkinson hopes that the pressure games in quick succession will continue to test the academy's youngsters.
The European dream is over for another year - and it could have been so much different had Mukasa taken an almighty risk - but the season can still end with silverware on multiple fronts at the CFA.
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