Prolific scorers & famous sons - ones to watch in Youth Cup final on BBC
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. 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 27 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.