Man City produce another late show as promising midfield partnership emerges in UEFA Youth League

There are no shortage of talented midfielders at Manchester City, and the academy have a good record of developing quality central players in recent years.

After players like Cole Palmer, James McAtee and Tommy Doyle have graduated from the academy, with Romeo Lavia and others leaving permanently this summer, there is room for another midfielder to make a name for themselves.

In a week where City might have benefitted from one extra midfield option thanks to injuries to Kalvin Phillips and Rodri, youngster Shea Charles was the top performer for a battling under-19 side who battled hard to avoid their first UEFA Youth League defeat of the season against FC Copenhagen.

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With both sides coming into this game with two wins from two - City flexing their muscles in a big win at Sevilla and then enjoying a dramatic injury-time comeback vs Borussia Dortmund - this was set up to be an exciting meeting of two in-form sides. Except it wasn't, with City's possession-based attacking cancelling out Copenhagen's big, physical defence and counter-attacking tactics.

Copenhagen were a threat on the break without creating many dangerous chances, and they were extremely well-organised at the back to restrict City's talented attackers like Oscar Bobb, Carlos Borges and Dire Mebude any space to operate. It said everything that City's standout player in the opening 45 minutes was defensive midfielder Shea Charles, who was calm on the ball and dictated the play.

It was Charles who tested the goalkeeper with a long-range effort, and he was at the start of a move that saw Borges swing in a lovely left-footed cross for striker Will Dickson to poke just wide on the stretch. If it had come