The battleground is a northern footballing powerhouse, the setting a match that will help to decide whether an English giant can claim revenge over their Spanish rivals in the quest to conquer Europe.

Yet while the continent’s footballing focus will fall on the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, when Barcelona and Manchester City’s array of superstars square off 13 days after the Premier League club suffered a chastening 4-0 defeat in their Champions League group tie, those with an eye on the future may care to follow the game that precedes it just over the road at City’s Mini Stadium, where the club’s extravagantly gifted youngsters collide in the Uefa Youth League.

Their previous meeting, which preceded the seniors’ match at the Nou Camp, was settled by a late goal from Carles Pérez, the latest luminous product of Barça’s talent factory and a player earning comparisons with Arjen Robben.

Yet the notion that City would have been able even to compete with a club of Barça’s heritage and resources in the increasingly ferocious battleground of elite youth football would have been considered ludicrous just a decade ago. To trace the roots of City’s rise, you must travel four stops on the Metrolink tram from Manchester Piccadilly and alight at Velopark. Opposite lies the City Football Academy, which had cost the club’s Abu Dhabi owners a princely £150 million when it opened in 2014.