IRELAND U21 MIDFIELDER Jack Byrne has paid tribute to Patrick Vieira after Manchester City lifted the International Premier League Cup.
Vieira’s side emerged triumphant against Porto in the final with a 1-0 victory thanks to Kelechi Ihenacho’s early goal and Byrne put the success down to the hard work carried out under the tutelage of the former France international.
“It’s brilliant. All the hard work over the past two years since Patrick [Vieira]‘s been here has really paid off,” Byrne told the club’s official website. “We had to dig deep to get the win against a very good side. We’re just delighted to get the win. It’s a great feeling.”
Following the cup win, Byrne posted to his official twitter page that he was “the happiest man in the world” and was pictured celebrating with City captain Vincent Kompany, who was in attendance along with a number of other first team players at the club’s Academy Stadium.
“We were glad the fans turned up in their numbers, because it was a horrible night – it was raining down – but I’m sure they’re delighted they came and watched, because it was a great game,” added the Dubliner.
“They [Porto] play in the equivalent to the Championship over in Portugal, so they get a much harder test than us. To show that we can compete with teams like that and beat them really sends out a mark of the good work that Patrick, the staff, Brian Marwood and everyone is doing at the club, so it’s a real credit to them.
“If you’re going to play for our first team, there’s a high demand on winning trophies, so it’s great to instil it into the youth. We definitely have to be winning trophies if we want to push into the first team.”
