In the Uefa Youth League, Borussia Dortmund will face Manchester City. A tough opponent, against which a trio of U23s will be out for the U19 talents.

On the second matchday of the Youth League, the supposedly toughest test of the group stage awaits Borussia Dortmund’s youngsters. They play Manchester City on Wednesday afternoon (4 p.m.) – five hours before the professionals face the English top club in the senior division.

An opponent who plays at a level “we can’t really compete at”, as U19 coach Mike Tullberg explains on the club’s website. BVB is the “underdog” – because top youngsters like Jamie Bynoe-Gittens (injured) as well as Tom Rothe (professional) are missing and the hosts have numerous U23 players in their squad besides super talent Carlos Borges.

BVB: Gürpüz, Aning and Semic in Youth League squad

But Dortmund are also travelling to the island with support from their own second division team. Göktan Gürpüz, Prince Aning and Lion Semic from the third division team will be with them, just as they were in the opening defeat against FC Copenhagen (0:2) a week ago. This time, the trio also completed two sessions with the U19s. Because against Copenhagen you could see that “the processes didn’t fit, the automatisms didn’t work and they had little match practice,” says Tullberg. Meanwhile, Abdoulaye Kamara remains with the U23s, unlike the previous week.

While BVB fluffed their start to the tournament, City celebrated an emphatic 5:1 victory over Sevilla FC. Not necessarily an encouragement for Borussia, who had already surprised Manchester once last season – albeit against United. In the last 16 of the Youth League, BVB won on penalties and reached the quarter-finals for the first time in the club’s history.