Manchester City youth coach Brian Barry-Murphy believes his side are relishing the UEFA Youth League.
The Citizens will be taking on Red Star Belgrade, the Serbian champions, on Tuesday at home.
The Under-19s were impressive in Europe last season, winning their group but losing in the last 16 to Hajduk Split.
I think the UEFA Youth League has been one of the highlights of my time at the Club," the head coach told club media.
I think the excitement and anticipation of the level of challenge that you are going to face and also that feeling of the unknown (is brilliant).
My theory is that you really have to presume you are going to play one of the strongest teams in the competition.
Red Star had a very good season last year and they were knocked out by AZ Alkmaar in the knockout stages who went on to win the final.
So, I think you have to presume the level of challenge is going to be at the highest level and more often than not you won't be disappointed.
It's a very use tool for us as a club in terms of measuring our players against the best that Europe has to offer.
Last season we had a lot of players who had played in the competition the season before and been surprised and ultimately disappointed at getting knocked out in the group stages.
So, they were well prepared for that. This year we have only got maybe two players who were regulars last season, so we are really starting off from scratch again.
And even in terms of our over age players last year we had five or six, this season we have got three so we are going to be very, very young in the competition but I think that is so beneficial to us as a club in that we test ourselves in such a competitive event."