Manchester City brought in four academy players to help prepare for their upcoming Champions League match against Sparta Prague. Alongside Jacob Wright and Nico O’Reilly, who have been training regularly with the first team this season, defenders Emilio Lawrence and Seb Naylor, as well as forwards Jaden Heskey and Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, participated in the session with Pep Guardiola.
Wright and O’Reilly are likely to feature prominently for the Under-19s in their UEFA Youth League match on Wednesday afternoon, as they aim to build on their progress in the competition. After a 4-2 loss to Inter Milan in their opening game, City’s youth team bounced back with a 4-0 victory over Slovan Bratislava and are keen to continue their strong run.
City’s first-team training session took place under the autumn sun on Tuesday, with the media given access for the first 15 minutes. Club legend Mike Summerbee was present at the session, where he was greeted by Erling Haaland and Guardiola. Summerbee was accompanied by sporting director Txiki Begiristain, who recently announced his departure at the end of the season after 12 years with the club. He will be succeeded by Hugo Viana, who is joining from Sporting Lisbon, a team City will face in this season’s Champions League.
The Blues will host Sparta Prague at 8 p.m. tomorrow, while the Under-19s will play their Czech counterparts earlier in the day, with a 3 p.m. kickoff at the Joie Stadium.
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