Man City have a fourth Portuguese star in the making after Carlos Borges makes the difference

Good players make the difference in matches - and the top players make the difference in big matches.

Manchester City have a quite brilliant trio of Portuguese stars who all fall into the latter category, in Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva.

But when the chips were down in the Blues’ under-18 clash with table-topping Blackburn today, a 17-year-old winger from the beautiful Lisbon district of Sintra gave notice that he has all the attributed to join that distinguished trio in a few years.

Carlos Borges caught the eye as City’s youngsters shrugged off the disappointment of their FA Youth Cup exit a fortnight ago by moving to the top of the Premier League Under-18 North table with a 4-0 demolition of former leaders Blackburn.

Second to the Lancashire club on goal difference before the game, and having played a game more, the City boys needed to win to not only claim top spot but also seize the initiative in the title fight.

They did so by a margin that also overturned the goal difference problem, from being five worse to three better.

It was an impressive team performance, as you might expect from a junior side expected to emulate the equality and cooperative effort that Pep Guardiola has instilled into the first team squad.

But it is a strange quirk of youth level football that, while that team ethic is espoused, it is more about individuals capable of taking the step up.

Few youth teams produce more than one, two or three players for the first team, certainly when that first team is as elite as City’s current set-up.

City’s youth team of three years ago produced the exceptional Phil Foden, but also raked in £22million from Real Madrid for Brahim Diaz and produced an England international in Jadon Sancho who