With the international break firmly in force, plenty of Manchester City players were in action with their respective countries over the past few days. A refreshing mix of both first-team, and youth players were involved.
City's Argentinian blues
Amongst them, was centre-back Nicolas Otámendi. Having sustained a painful-looking injury during City's 0-0 home draw with Dynamo Kyiv, he was understandably left out of the matchday squad to face local rivals Manchester United on the following weekend.
However, the talented 28-year-old returned to action, and played the full 90 minutes as his native Argentina prevailed against Chile in their 2018 World Cup qualifier. The defensive duo of Pablo Zabaleta and Martin Demichelis were unused substitutes, whilst Sergio Agüero struggled to make much impact during the encounter and was consequently substituted halfway through the second-half.
Kelechi's first Nigeria senior start
Although the majority of media coverage regarding Nigeria's 1-1 draw with Egpyt was surrounded around the 40,000 spectators who attempted to cram themselves into an 18,000-seater stadium, as well as Arsenal's Alex Iwobi sealing his allegiance to the Super Eagles, it was also an important evening for Kelechi Iheanacho. The talented forward, who has emerged as one of City's brightest youth prospects, made his first senior start for Nigeria - and hit the woodwork on the hour mark, before Oghenekaro Etebo was able to break the deadlock with a rebound.
He was replaced with 25 minutes to play, and Roma winger Mohamed Salah (on-loan from Chelsea) sunk Nigerian hearts with a late equaliser to scramble a hard-fought point for the Egpytians in their African Cup of Nations qualifier.
Nmecha's dramatic winner - as well as other talented youngsters
Goalkeeper Angus Gunn, as well as midfielders Kean Bryan and Brandon Barker all started during a comprehensive 4-1 victory for England's u20's against Canada. Barker notched up a goal for himself - his third goal in seven appearances at u20 level thus far.
Cameron Humphreys, Jacob Davenport and Isaac Buckley were all involved from the start as England's u18's managed a dramatic 3-2 victory against Austria earlier in midweek. Lukas Nmecha, fresh from his goal against Arsenal in the first leg of their FA Youth Cup semi-final, scored the winning goal just minutes after being introduced as a second-half substitute.