Scott Parker on Dortmund Under-19 UEFA Youth League opener

Scott Parker is excited by the prospect of his first European game as a coach on Wednesday and believes our UEFA Youth League outing against Borussia Dortmund’s youngsters will really benefit our Academy stars in the long-run.

As participants in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, we’re automatically entered into the high-profile Under-19 equivalent, where we’ll get the chance to test ourselves against young players from the same clubs in opposition to the first team.

First up is a home clash with Dortmund at Hotspur Way on Wednesday at 3pm and coach Scott, who joined our Academy staff over the summer after calling time on his playing career and will join John McDermott in the dugout against the German side, can’t wait to see how we perform.

“We’re really looking forward to the game and I feel you get a marker of where you are and how you’re doing as a club with these types of matches,” said the former midfielder.

“We’ve got some strong players in this age group and we’d like to think we can give anyone a good game. It’s all part of the learning curve of trying to become a professional footballer and as much as we can put the boys in these situations against top European clubs at a young age, it will help them in the long term.”

We were unable to progress from the group stage last season despite some brave performances in some real physical battles, but Scott is hoping for a better outcome for everyone this time around.

“The UEFA Youth League is new to me really – obviously I’ve been in the building for a little while as Under-18s Coach but European football with the Under-19s, playing against some of the top teams in Europe like Borussia Dortmund, it’s going to be exciting,” he said.

“Hopefully we can continue doing our work with the players, do the right things and hopefully get a result. We have a style of play and I don’t think we’ll deviate from that much because that’s what we believe in, so hopefully we’ll get a result and play some nice, good, attractive football at the same time.”

Follow us on Twitter @SpursOfficial for live updates from the game. The match is also being televised live on BT Sport.