Prolific scorers & famous sons - ones to watch in Youth Cup final on BBC

The Youth Cup final will be held at Manchester City's smaller Joie Stadium, rather than Etihad Stadium

• Published47 minutes ago

The FA Youth Cup has been in existence since 1952.

Rarely can a final have been the subject of as much focus as this one.

Manchester City and Manchester United face each other in the final for the second time. City won the first, in 1986.

In an agreement with TNT Sports, the match will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

You can also follow the action via BBC Sport's live text.

City are appearing in their third successive final, and had Cole Palmer, Liam Delap and Taylor Harwood-Bellis in their side when they beat Chelsea to win the trophy in 2019-20.

United won the last of their record 11 finals in 2022 when Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho started a 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest, watched by more than 67,000 at Old Trafford.

This latest final has been overshadowed by City's controversial decision to stage the game at Joie Stadium, a 7,000-capacity arena in their training ground complex, rather than Etihad Stadium, where they hosted the win against Leeds in 2024 in front of 20,000 people.

City said the decision is due to construction works taking place at the Etihad.

United complained and said the match should be held at a main stadium, and asked for it to be moved to Old Trafford. The Football Association also wanted the game to be held in a main stadium.

City, the designated home team, refused. United sold their allocation of just under 1,000 tickets in a matter of minutes. Tickets for the home areas are still on sale to City members.

FA Youth Cup final

Thursday, 14 May at 19:00 BST

Joie Stadium, Manchester

City's route to the final and who to look out for

Manchester City forward Teddie Lamb leads the celebrations after scoring his side's second goal in their semi-final win over Blackburn

Oliver Reiss' free-scoring Manchester City side have netted 18 goals in their run to the final - with wins over Fulham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and Blackburn to set up a crunch Manchester derby against United.

Star striker Teddie Lamb scored in the semi-final victory over Rovers and has netted a total of 28 goals in just 26 games in all competitions this season. The prolific 16-year-old joined from Leyton Orient for a reported £355,000, external last year and was the top scorer in the Premier League U18 competition. He was nominated for the player of the year award, beaten by Thursday's opponent JJ Gabriel.

There is also interest in the sons of former Premier League players being involved in City's academy set-up - Reigan Heskey, son of ex-Liverpool striker Emile - also scored in the previous round, while Tyrone and Floyd Samba - sons of former QPR and Blackburn defender Chris - have scored 18 goals between them so far this season.

At the back, Leke Drake was named as City's Premier League scholar of the year following an impressive season - in which the defender played in every game to skipper the side to the Premier League U18 North title. The 18-year-old is renowned for his ball-playing ability and versatility.

Midfielder Harrison Miles has only scored twice this season, but one of those came courtesy of a rasping, long-range strike against United in the league earlier this season - City came from 2-0 behind to win that game 4-2. "I can't wait to play," said Miles. "It's my second time playing in a final like this so it's definitely exciting. We know a lot of the players, but it is always big anyway.

"It is a Manchester derby and we are competing in the league. It is probably heightened by that, but we are all just focused on the game and what's to come."

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United's route to the final and who to look out for

Manchester United celebrate their semi-final winner against Crystal Palace

The progress of Darren Fletcher's side has not been smooth. Narrow home victories over Peterborough, Derby - in extra time - and Sunderland, plus a comfortable away win at Oxford, earned a semi-final against Crystal Palace, when they also needed extra time to get through, thanks to a Chido Obi goal eight minutes from time.

Chido is one of United's key men. The Denmark youth international made eight first-team appearances last season but has only appeared on the bench once this term. Tall and quick, with an eye for goal, United have been developing other aspects of his game. He will operate at the head of the visitors' attack and try to pin City's defence back.

Gabriel is one of the most talked about young players in England. The 15-year-old Londoner was crowned under-18 player of the year by the Premier League this week. He operates in the number 10 slot and tries to get on the ball as much as possible. He has exceptional balance and close control, is quick and represents a major goal threat.

Jim Thwaites was on the first-team bench at Chelsea recently. A number 10 at younger levels, Thwaites has been used in deeper positions this season. He has a fabulous passing range, is quick and has plenty of stamina. Also, he can be lethal at free-kicks, as City found to their cost when United won the last league meeting between the sides in February.

Skipper Dan Armer is a key man in central defence, Junior Brown and Noah Ajayi are dangers out wide and goalkeeper Cameron Byrne-Hughes has had a solid season.

Asked if there was extra motivation, with the final being against City, midfielder Rafe McCormack said: "100%."

He added: "It's obviously a big occasion, but we need to focus on ourselves and what we can do.

"It would have been a bonus to play in the first-team stadium, but to us it doesn't matter. We're just focusing on trying to win the trophy."

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• Football
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