Celtic kids to face Villa

PAUL Lambert’s new crop of youngsters at Aston Villa will face their counterparts at his former club Celtic in the 2012-13 NextGen Series.

Villa, who will unveil Lambert as their new manager tomorrow, have been grouped with Celtic, Sporting Lisbon and PSV Eindhoven in the showpiece European competition for under-19 sides.

Celtic performed with credit in the inaugural tournament last season, wining three of their six games in a tough group against Barcelona, Marseille and Manchester City, who they beat home and away. The event has been extended to 24 teams from its 16-team format last season, with Chelsea and Arsenal among the latest recruits. They join Juventus, PSG, CSKA Moscow, Anderlecht, Olympiakos, Borussia Dortmund and Athletic Club, as well as 15 of the 16 clubs who competed last season. The only club to drop out, at their own request, was FC Basel.

Group 1: Barcelona, Tottenham, Olympiakos, Wolfsburg

Group 2: Manchester City,, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Fenerbahce.

Group 3: Chelsea, Ajax, CSKA Moscow, Molde.

Group 4: Arsenal, Athletico Bilbao, Marseille, Anderlecht.

Group 5: Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Rosenborg.

Group 6: Sporting Lisbon, Celtic, Aston Villa, PSV Eindhoven.