Youth Shield Final Match Report

Division Three promotion chasing Sevilla matched up with Division Five strugglers Flamengo in a distraction from league position pressures for respective managers David Senior and Mark Phelps. Former Valencia boss Senior won the Youth Cup last season with Los Che, and was looking to complete a unique double by winning the Youth Shield this. Fla boss Phelps has built an all-Brazilian squad, which has perhaps under-performed at senior level, but is bearing ripe fruit in the under-21 age group.

Youth Cup Final Match Report

Two Top 100 giants fought each other tooth and nail home and away in this two-legged final either side of Christmas. Bayern hosted Juventus at the Allianz Arena on Saturday, with the return leg in Turin last night.

Youth Cup and Shield Finals Previews

Tonight sees the first legs of the culmination of a long, hard season of Youth Cup and Shield games for the four remaining teams, Bayern Munich and Juventus in the Youth Cup Final, and Flamengo and Sevilla in the Youth Shield Final. Second legs will be played on Wednesday 27 December, but here is a quick preview of the finals.

One Night in Turin: Youth Cup Semi-Finals

The semi-finals of this season's Youth Cup produced spectacular and unprecedented drama both on and off the pitch last night. Well, one of the games did. Tournament favourites Benfica could manage only a draw at home to Bayern, crashing out 4-1 on aggregate. Meanwhile, over in Turin...

Youth Shield Quarter Finals Review

There were eight teams who, due to their original seeding at the start of the competition, we might have expected to be competing at least in the Youth Shield knockout rounds, if not the Youth Cup itself. Poor group performances and results, however, saw Chelsea and Hellas Verona, who were ranked 13th and 15th, fail to qulaify. Other under-achievers were Aston Villa, Levante, Genoa, Feyenoord, Roma and Internazionale.

Their failures allowed unfancied Manchester City, Fenerbahce, Torino and Cruzeiro to progress, although all four went out in the first Shield knockout round. Southampton, ranked 48th, did well to get through to Round 3, while Villarreal did even better - ranked 57th, they made it to Round 4. Best of the bunch, though are David Senior's juniors, with his 46th seeded Sevilla side through to the semi-finals.

Youth Cup Quarter Finals Review

Of the top eight rated teams at the start of the season, just Barcelona (3rd) and Everton (8th) failed to make it to the Quarter Finals as expected. Barcelona lost 1-0 at pre-season tournament favourites Real Madrid in the previous round, while Everton also went out in the third round, 3-2 at new favourites Benfica. Leverkusen (originally rated the 11th best team) and Anderlecht (9th) were the beneficiaries of Barca and Everton's failures.

Before we get into the events of last night's Quarter Finals, let's quickly review how we got here with the results of the knockout rounds 2 and 3 since the group stages were decided.

Youth Cup Groups Final Standings and Knockout Round Fixtures

The big news form the Youth Cup this week is that all the matches have finally been played and we can now get on with the business end of the competition.

But before we do, in a Top 100 Blog Exclusive, I can exclusively reveal that Real Madrid are back IN the Youth Cup! Having quit just two weeks ago claiming the competition was costing them a shot at the league title, and in any case just wasn't competitive enough for the three time Youth Cup final losers and this season's odds-on favourites, Youth Cup supremo Beddows has confirmed he had 'a conversation' with the Madrid club's crazy Irish manager Roy Keane, and now, lo and behold, they they are back in.

Youth Cup Tables Final Round - S6 Group Stage Review

The Group Stage of the Season 6 Youth Cup is finally over, and it was both a competitive and fun season as well as the season of disappointment to an extent. The reason so is that there were many clubs that broke the rules and fielded seniors, some have done it once and some have done it quite a few times. Clubs without a broken rule have benefited a lot from this, as it allowed them to pass their direct rivals on the table, thus securing their place in the Knockout stages of the Youth Cup. Here we review each group of this season's competition. (reviews will come after each group is completely finished)

Youth Cup Tables Round 9 and Final Round Preview

Here are the results from last night's fixtures in the Youth Cup, along with updated tables, and what it means for the final round of group matches before the knockout Cup and Shield stages. Plus any manager updates and pre- and post-match press conferences comments.

Youth Cup Tables Round 8 and Final Rounds Preview

Here are the updated Youth Cup tables after round 8's games last night, and a few comments from me on each of the groups - where we all stand and what could happen in the final two rounds of matches, bearing in mind that the top four in each group qualify for the next stages.

Youth Cup Tables Round 7

Quick roundup of the latest Youth Cup tables.

To see the full list of results, forfeits (columns marked C) and round by round tables look here: https://goo.gl/MgZ5aP (each group has its own worksheet tab at the bottom, feel free to add comments!).