Man City youngsters face a European test they've failed too often

As Pep Guardiola's stars prepare to return to the Bernabeu following another collapse, Manchester City's youngsters find themselves in their own Groundhog Day.

The club's Under-19s head to FC Midtjylland on Wednesday for a one-legged knockout tie in the UEFA Youth League. And while they haven't played the Danish side before the game has a familiar feel. Last year they went to Mainz in the last-16 and lost in front of a partisan crowd and the year before the same happened at Hajduk Split.

"We know what to expect on Wednesday with the pitch," 16-year-old Stephen Mfuni told the Manchester Evening News. "The atmosphere is going to be crazy. It's going to be tough."

Not that Mfuni is bothered by the disadvantages. Every age group at City has to push themselves harder than the last to try and catch Guardiola's eye and the Youth League - where one semi-final appearance in 2018 is the best the Blues have managed - is an easy target.

"It's important because in the past we haven't really done well. We always got ourselves into the situation of the knockouts where we are now but then we get knocked out because we can't deal with the pressure or atmosphere," said Mfuni.

"Now we know what to do, we can have a good go and hopefully we go far in the competition. If you want to transition to the first team, you have to deal with moments like this because they have that all the time."

City's academy has enjoyed lost of domestic success in recent years but they have underwhelmed in Europe, a competition that pits the best Under-19 teams from all over the continent. Acknowledging that some of the best academies may not have their first teams in the Champions League, there are two paths to the knockout rounds and that's how Midtjylland