I made my Man City debut at Juventus - then never played again

Manchester City were feeling the holiday cheer as they headed to Juventus for a Europa League game in December 2010.

What might have been a stiff test of Roberto Mancini's squad had instead become an opportunity for rest, with the Blues having already qualified from the group and the Old Lady - amid some suspicion they hadn't treated the competition as seriously as they could have done - already out.

The City manager used the trip to give a host of academy players the chance to travel with the first team, and Chris Chantler, Alex Nimely, Scott Kay, Ben Mee, Abdi Ibrahim and Omar Elabdellaoui all crossed their fingers as they made their way to Italy. Chantler turned 20 on the day of the game, and Mancini made a point of wishing him happy birthday at the breakfast table after assistant Brian Kidd had let him know.

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Nimely started the match but otherwise it was a recognisable side that started the match as Mancini gave valuable minutes to some squad players. Pablo Zabaleta came on after an hour and then, with just two minutes to go, the manager turned to Cheadle-born Chantler.

“I was waiting for about five minutes, just standing there," he told the Manchester Evening News in 2019. "The game was 1-1 and nothing happened in the last 15 minutes, with Juve happy to just keep the ball.

“The ball didn’t go out of play and I had the feeling I would still be standing there when the final whistle went, and get hammered by the other lads afterwards!

“I got on for a minute or a minute and a half, but didn’t get a touch. Zabaleta tried to to pass to me so I would at least get a touch – and booted it into touch.”

Chantler didn't know then, but that would be his only appearance in a City shirt. He made a few more matchday squads before moving to Carlisle, first on loan and then permanently in January 2012 - only for an ankle ligament injury to take five operations to mend as the midfielder hit problem after problem in his bid to return to the pitch.

There were further spells at Kilmarnock, Spennymoor, FC United, Macclesfield and Ossett United and Colne but there will always be the night when he played against Alessandro Del Piero and Giorgio Chiellini for Chantler to look back on with pride as one of the best birthday gifts.

“The manager wished me happy birthday that morning,” he said. “But whether he put me on the pitch as a birthday present, I just don’t know – he didn’t say it was.

“I had been doing decent in the reserves and we all knew he would rest a few for the Juventus game, and take a few of us to Italy to be on the bench. I was just happy to be in that group.”