Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan was left impressed by their young players after last night's Champions League draw with Sporting CP.
The 0-0 stalemate sees City reach the quarterfinals 5-0 on aggregate.
Defender CJ Egan-Riley played the full 90 minutes. Attacking midfielder James McAtee was a half-time substitute for fellow academy graduate Phil Foden, while Pep Guardiola also handed a European bow to defender Luke Mbete against the Portuguese side.
Gundogan said: "We were able to put out a few young lads today, (it was) great to see them do the work and get rewarded for the work.
"Macca (James McAtee) has already been training for a long time with us, he got a couple of games so you could see already in training all these abilities and potentials.
"CJ, it was his (Champions League) debut tonight and what a debut.
"I'm really happy for the boy, I think he played in a really mature way, avoided simple mistakes and even though he was maybe a little bit nervous and excited, I think he was able to control his emotions very well.
"It shows that hard work always pays off and they deserved it today."
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