By Dan Harrison
Alex McLeish is looking forward to seeing Villa's youngsters flourish on the European stage against Marseille tomorrow night - after hailing their "refreshing" performances in the NextGen Series.
McLeish will be watching from the stands at Villa Park as the club's future stars look to topple the French giants and reach the semi-finals of the prestigious Champions League-style U19 competition.
The Villa boss likes what he has seen so far from the future generation.
A terrific Group 3 campaign saw the boys in claret and blue defeat Fenerbahce, Rosenborg and Ajax at home, as well as Fenerbahce away, en route to topping the table.
Now they find themselves in the last eight alongside the likes of Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon and Inter Milan.
McLeish said: "I love it. It is brilliant. It is like a mini-Champions League for the kids and it is great to see the involvement of all the top teams in Europe.
"I think it has been very refreshing. British players sometimes get inferiority complexes when they do play the European teams and games like that can let them see 'wait a minute, we're as good.'
"There is no doubt every detail of all of the clubs that we play or that we hear about, there are certain players that will be logged."
Don't forget to come down to Villa Park and cheer on the Young Lions against Marseille.
Season ticket holders can claim a free ticket, while entry for non-season ticket holders is £3 for adults and £1 for U16s - click here.
