'They have to learn quick here' - Man City want 'hostile' UEFA Youth League exit to boost FA Youth Cup bid

The cliche goes that you learn far more from your defeats than your victories, and that is certainly the case within the Manchester City academy after a difficult exit from Europe last week.

City's under-19s fell 2-0 down at Hajduk Split in the UEFA Youth League last week, and could only find one goal back to crash out of Europe at the last-16 stage in front of a large, vocal and partisan crowd in Croatia. Throwing their best players into difficult atmospheres and situations is something City see as important - but so is winning, and the mood inside the academy has been a disappointed one over the last week.

So the sight of an FA Youth Cup quarter-final against Oxford on Tuesday provides and opportunity for City to bounce back, and there is hope that this time it can be a large City crowd making the difference - not an opposition one.

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"We believe that group of players had a chance of going even further in the competition than it did," under-18s coach Ben Wilkinson tells MEN Sport.

"We're disappointed about the outcome of the game, albeit a great learning experience for the players, away in Europe in a difficult game. The environment, a hostile atmosphere, there were good numbers in the ground.

"It was a perfect development opportunity in terms of what we want from our best players, but obviously disappointed to go out of the competition in a game where we win that game eight or nine times out of ten. But we all know this can happen in cup football.

"One of the challenges we face is trying to give them enough of those experiences that make it as close to first team football as we possibly can. It was a great experience for them,