A lifetime of going toe-to-toe with bigger boys stands Phil Foden in perfect stead for the biggest game in European club football on Saturday.
Foden, who turned 21 on Friday, has enjoyed a superb season for Premier League champions Manchester City, progressing from undoubted talent and potential to be one of the first names on Pep Guardiola's team sheet.
The attacking midfielder's rise has delighted Steve Eyre, a former youth coach at City who oversaw some of Foden's earliest steps on the road to stardom.
"It's amazing, really. He just keeps evolving and getting better. As a supporter, first and foremost, I am mesmerised by some of his performances and capabilities," Eyre told Stats Perform ahead of the Champions League final between City and Chelsea at Estadio do Dragao this weekend.
"His temperament has come to the fore recently, now that the opposition are more aware of him. There are more people wanting to foul him, there are more people wanting to mark him tighter."
Foden joined City as an eight-year-old and Eyre said: "He's got such a hunger and such a desire to affect the scoreline in a variety of positions now that I don’t think the lad himself knows what his best position is."
Nedum Onuoha was a product of the youth set-up, overseen by Jim Cassell – viewed by Eyre as "the best academy manager of his generation" – that serviced City's first team after the turn of the century, producing the likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips, Micah Richards, Daniel Sturridge and Kieran Trippier.
Nevertheless, despite that esteemed list of internationals, ex-City defender Onuoha believes Foden's gifts put him on another level.
"I wouldn't necessarily say there are going to be a ton of people like Foden to come after him, because for me - not to downplay the people that came before - he's the best player I've ever seen come out of our academy," Onuoha told Stats Perform.
"That academy has seen players come through who've won Premier Leagues, not just at City, like Kasper Schmeichel. You've had players come through and play for England. But in terms of actual talent and ability, the fact Phil can fit into this City team, like he has done over the past couple of years, says a lot about how good he actually is.
"From hearing little things, from players and people who spend time with him, he's got this obsession with winning and an obsession with getting better. And a true love for the football club."
Foden's capacity to excel was spotted quickly by Cassell's team and Eyre had a conversation with the player's father, asking if he could train for an extra night a week to mix it with the older age groups.
"He said 'no problem', he agreed," the coach recalled, before explaining the rationale.
"It's very important that you don't divorce a boy from his childhood. It's important that he plays with lads his own age and mixes and socialises with them. The challenge for Phil – we think it suited him; it doesn't necessarily suit others – was to design a mixed age-group programme for him.
"Very quickly he had to find a way to make space and find space to avoid contact with the big boys. When everything became a bit more familiar, they wanted to get stuck into him a little bit and make sure he didn’t have everything his own way. What he had to do then was the opposite and learn how to take contact.
"What you see now, with his incredible balance, is he's absolutely amazing at avoiding contact.
"When he takes contact these days, he either wins the physical battle with upper-body strength or if he's thrown to the floor he's very, very durable and he just pulls his socks back up, looks at the referee for a little bit of support, gets on his feet and gets playing again."
Even if emulating Foden will prove beyond most of the hopefuls who tread the pitches at the City Football Academy, Onuoha believes his progress to become a first-team star for Pep Guardiola and England boss Gareth Southgate provides a shining light for City's next generation.
"It does matter because it justifies the academy, it justifies why your kid comes into the place," Onuoha said. "If you don't have somebody in the first team who's come through the ranks, you start to ask bigger questions about what's the point.
"But ultimately, City do invest in their academy. It doesn't guarantee that everybody will play for the first team, but it shows that you can. Seeing an academy face, especially a Mancunian one for fans, that really, really matters and it makes you feel excited. It shows that pathway is still there."
Onuoha added: "When Phil was growing up, there were people in City's first team who he was looking up to, like a David Silva. Who's to say that the next Phil Foden-level talent isn't looking at him now? They're 10 years old, thinking, 'I want to be like Phil Foden'."
Osimhen a doubt for Napoli's Champions League quarter-final against Milan
Napoli striker Victor Osimhen faces a race against time to play any part in the Champions League quarter-final against Milan after suffering an injury.
Osimhen played both games in the international break for Nigeria but has returned to the Italian club with a left thigh problem.
The club announced on their website he will be assessed next week, with president Aurelio De Laurentiis hopeful the star striker will soon be back in action.
De Laurentiis said, according to Tuttomercato: "He should be out a couple of weeks, we hope."
Napoli host Milan in Serie A on Sunday before travelling to face Lecce on the following Friday, with Osimhen likely to miss both fixtures.
The Champions League quarter-final first leg in Milan comes on April 12, with the return fixture taking place in Naples on April 18.
The 24-year-old Osimhen has enjoyed a prolific season, scoring 25 goals in 29 games in all competitions, with Luciano Spalletti’s 19 points clear of second-placed Lazio in Serie A and through to their first-ever Champions League quarter-final.
Argentine striker Giovanni Simeone will likely deputise in Osimhen’s absence, with the striker having netted eight times in all competitions this season.
France recalls for Le Sommer and Wendie Renard as new coach calls up old guard
Wendie Renard and Eugenie Le Sommer were recalled to the France squad on Friday as new coach Herve Renard began his Women's World Cup planning.
Long-serving captain and centre-back Renard indicated in February she would not play on for France under the Corinne Diacre regime, and forwards Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto followed suit.
That public boycott by the trio triggered the end of Diacre's five-and-a-half-year spell in charge.
Diani and Katoto are unavailable for selection due to injury at present, but the change of leadership has led to an immediate recall for Wendie Renard, although it has yet to be decided whether the 32-year-old will skipper the team.
Coach Renard – not related to defender Renard – said the pair would talk about that issue, and he would also consider the squad's feelings when they meet for friendlies against Colombia on April 7 and against Canada on April 11.
Talks have taken place with Katoto already, with boss Renard assuring the striker she is a big part of his future plans, while he has also delivered a positive message to Amandine Henry, the experienced Lyon midfielder who dropped off the international group during Diacre's reign.
Forward Le Sommer, who has won 175 caps but last featured in April 2021, had also been cut out of Diacre's plans.
She missed the Euro 2022 finals, but ahead of her 34th birthday in May the Lyon forward finds herself back in favour with Les Bleues and has a chance to majorly revive her international career.
"She has incomparable experience," said coach Renard. "We really need her experience and her intelligence in the game. It was a pleasure to chat with her and I can't wait to meet her and see her at work."
Looking at the wider picture, Renard indicated he had been given carte blanche regarding squad selection.
The French Football Federation previously criticised the manner of the players' boycott, affirming that acting in such a way "to express their criticisms was no longer acceptable in future".
For the greater good, however, misgivings have been set aside, with coach Renard saying: "It was very clear to me. The FFF gave me a very extensive list of pre-selected players with all the players.
"I felt the FFF gave me the green light to select all the players from this list. For me, what happened [in the past], it does not concern me," the coach said. "We can pay tribute to Corinne Diacre who obtained good results. But now the page turns."
The appointment of Renard as Diacre's successor came on Thursday, after he resigned as coach of the Saudi Arabia men's team.
He oversaw the team's stunning 2-1 victory over eventual winners Argentina at last year's World Cup in Qatar, and now another World Cup awaits, with Australia and New Zealand co-hosting the women's tournament in July and August.
His contract with Les Bleues will run until August 2024, meaning he is also set to be in charge of France at next year's home Olympic Games in Paris.
Man City v Liverpool: Preview and prediction
Liverpool may be no threat to Manchester City in the title race this season, but they could derail the champions' hopes of a treble in Saturday's match at the Etihad Stadium.
That is the fear of Pep Guardiola, who still thinks highly of a Reds side struggling for consistency this season.
City need to win to at least temporarily close the gap to leaders Arsenal, while Liverpool are on the outside of the Champions League chase looking in.
That idea would have been alien to these two teams last year as they went toe-to-toe for the title, and memories of previous mammoth clashes are fresh in Guardiola's mind.
The City boss, who said his "opinion doesn't change for one season of ups and downs", explained: "For one game, absolutely, they can beat everyone, like we can beat everyone. One game is one game."
As City can focus on Arsenal alone in the league, Liverpool's situation is rather more complicated.
They are seven points behind fourth-placed Tottenham with two games in hand but also five shy of Newcastle United, who have played the same number of games in fifth.
Liverpool follow a trip to City by facing Chelsea and Arsenal next week.
"It's a super important game," said Jurgen Klopp. "That's the one thing not different to all the other years.
"We know it's a massive game, a massive week coming up. For tomorrow, they deserve all the attention – we can't think about the other games.
"It is like a Champions League week. I'm super excited."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Manchester City – Kevin De Bruyne
While Haaland was out of action in the international break, De Bruyne was on top form for Belgium, putting Germany to the sword earlier this week with a goal and two assists. He will have a key role to play against City, who have played more through balls than any other team (64), while Liverpool are joint-fourth for the most through balls played against them (48). De Bruyne leads all players with 21 through balls.
Liverpool – Mohamed Salah
Salah loves playing against City, only scoring more than his 10 goals in these matches when facing Manchester United (12). Indeed, he has already netted in three separate matches against Guardiola's side this season, on target in each of their meetings in the Premier League, Community Shield and EFL Cup. Ian Rush was the last last Liverpool player to score in four different games against an opponent in the same campaign, netting in five clashes with Everton in 1986-87.
MATCH PREDICTION – MAN CITY WIN
Liverpool are hoping to do the league double over City for just the second time in the past 17 seasons, but that previous home-and-away success in 2015-16 included their sole victory at the Etihad Stadium in their most recent 13 league visits.
This is not a season in which they appear likely to buck a trend away from home, having earned just 12 points from 13 games on the road. Having earned 30 points at Anfield, theirs is the biggest difference between home and away points in the division.
The Reds have also failed to score in six of those away games, their most across a whole league season since eight in 2011-12, and another blank would leave them at risk of a third straight defeat without scoring in all competitions for the first time since October 2009.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Man City - 50.8 per cent
Liverpool - 22.8 per cent
Draw - 26.4 per cent
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