05-05-2025
'We have enough quality to beat Aston Villa'
Manchester City are looking to get their hands on more silverware on Monday afternoon (15:00 BST) as they compete in their second consecutive FA Youth Cup final with the aim of winning the trophy back-to-back for the first time in the club's academy striker Matty Warhurst spoke about what it means to reach this stage again: "It's recognised as one of the most prestigious competitions in youth football so to win that and be classed as the best team your age in the country is obviously an unbelievable achievement and feeling if we were to win it. Everyone is preparing right and looking forward to it."As a team we are recognised as a special team. Obviously the statistics speak for themselves but when we play football, we play together and we play some really good football on the eye. I feel like we have enough quality to beat Aston Villa on Monday."The final is being played at Villa Park, something that Warhurst says the squad are looking forward to: "As a squad, everyone is excited to play there, it's a really big stadium and it's got a lot of history and that will only make it special. We're expecting a big crowd there with a lot of atmosphere so that's always good."Listen to Warhurst speak to BBC Radio ManchesterFellow academy defender Kaden Braithwaite also gave his thoughts ahead of the final: "Very excited. The whole season we have been working towards this so it will be good to get out there and play against Villa."Braithwaite was asked about the prospect of lifting the FA Youth Cup as captain and said: "Madness. At the start of the season if you said we would be in these tournaments and I'd be leading them, I wouldn't have believed it. I wouldn't be where I am now without my team-mates, they have a big part to play in it."We just need to stay level-headed, understand what we have to do and as long as we stick together, I think we can go all the way."Listen to Braithwaite in full
