Manchester City’s Under 19 team were handed a quite brutal induction into the ruthless and unforgiving nature of European football at the highest level.

It is one of the truisms of European football that you must take your chances when they arrive and rarely could any side have carved as many openings as Patrick Vieira’s young side did in this hugely impressive performance against Benfica.

Few of our representatives at any level have fallen more valiantly than this. City may well be the pick of the young age group, with Manchester United exiting in the group stage and Arsenal and Chelsea surrendering to more emphatic scorelines in defeats by Schalke and Barcelona.

For so long, City had been so dominant, so comfortable, rarely troubled by their Portuguese opponents. It was they who offered the greater urgency in possession, they who created the best chances.

It was also they who came up against a goalkeeper, in Benfica’s Thierry Graça, who produced the performance of his young life. If he continues to keep goal as defiantly, athletically and occasionally as unorthodoxly as this, there may be nothing to stop this Portuguese side winning the inaugural UEFA Youth League.

They will meet Real Madrid in the semi-finals and one imagines it will have to be similarly jaw-dropping showing from the goalkeeper if Benfica are to negotiate that assignment.

A procession of saves by the goalkeeper from Cape Verdi were, quite simply, out of the ordinary. Few of his stops were routine, almost all were inspired.

The first suggestions of his unique talent came in the first half, as he first denied Sinon Bytyqi, whose rasping low drive was destined for the left corner of the goal. He then kept out a long range strike from Rony Lopes, before then clawing away a goal-bound rebound from Jason Denayer.

City’s pressure was relentless, the gusto of Patrick Vieira’s young side at times irresistible, particularly in the first half, with City hungrier than their Iberian visitors, snapping at the heels of their opponents and charging onto loose balls.

It was from one such instance that the breakthrough came, as Seko Fofana galloped onto the scene, driving past one opponent before unleashing a blockbuster of a strike that hammered into the top-left corner from 25 yards. The French midfielder is a powerhouse of a midfielder and unleashed by Vieira, he was the driving force behind a spectacular first half-hour to this game by Manchester City.

Watching on from the smart seats were a procession of City dignitaries, from manager Manuel Pellegrini to captain Vincent Kompany. The Belgian, only too aware of the volatile nature of European competition — within your grasp one second, snatched away in the next — would surely have sympathised with his younger colleagues.

Nonetheless, he could not fail to be impressed and if any indication were needed as to where this competition and where the youth system lies in the club’s list of priorities, this was firmly answered by the presence of the club’s key decision makers, the chief executive officer Ferran Soriano and the director of football Txiki Begiristain.

The City supporters, too, feel the foundations of something rather special being constructed at their football club. At Hyde’s Ewan Fields, City’s followers flocked to the occasion, filling out all sides of this compact stadium, with more than 4,000 in tow.

Theirs has been a glorious journey from chip-fat to champagne but there was something blissfully throwback about seeing rows and rows of City supporters standing in all corners to cheer on this all-action youth team.

There was disappointment on the night, as City were hit by two second-half sucker punches, but there were so many positives for the club to take away from this night.

On the final whistle, four City players collapsed to the floor, motionless and distraught. They will learn from nights like this, Vieira will make sure of that.

They will take comfort too from the fact that they were, undoubtedly, the better side. From the start, the travelling team had a sickly pallor and the script barely deviated.

Benfica are traditionally timid visitors to English soil, winning just three of their sixteen senior assignments and in truth, few foresaw the comeback that began in the 74th minute when Gonçalo Guedes collected possession 30 yards out and as City retreated, he sensed an opportunity, curling the ball cutely into the bottom corner.

With eight minutes, City found themselves behind as Estrela turned home from close range. Moments before, Devante Cole had conjured the most exhilarating moment of the game, as the son of former Manchester United striker Andrew sauntered past four challenges, resisting any temptation to go down, before sliding his effort against the inside of the post. Such are the margins at this level.

City, though, refused to surrender, responding to the adrenalin shots pumped from the terraces and launching a bombardment of attacks Graça’s goal. Fofana regained the initiative, powering forward once more and forcing the goalkeeper to push an effort wide.

Then came Graça’s coup de grace, first reacting instantly to force away a Lopes ahead before leaping up and scrambling across his line to beat away Cole’s header. He simply refused to be beaten.

—Daily Mail