Manchester City’s men’s and women’s teams spread festive cheer to hundreds of brave youngsters as they visited four hospitals across Greater Manchester.
Pep Guardiola's team arrived at the Royal Manchester Children's Hosptial armed with bundles of presents and handmade Christmas cards from Manchester City's Academy players.
Vincent Kompany teamed up with Guardiola and Kevin de Bruyne to play a game of foosball with some football mad fans.
Kompany said: 'Whenever I visit the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital I’m blown away by the spirit and bravery of all the youngsters I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.
'It’s a difficult time of year to be spending in hospital, but the staff and volunteers do an amazing job and hopefully everyone has enjoyed today.'
City captain, Steph Houghton continued: “It was a pleasure to take some time out of training to visit the children at the Starlight Unit.
'It was fantastic to see the smiles on their faces and a real honour for the team to be able to give something back to our local community.'
Sarah Naismith, Director of Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity added: 'We are incredibly grateful to Pep and all the men’s and women’s players who take the time each year to visit our patients, bringing presents and spreading festive cheer.
'Meeting the players really does lift spirits, putting a big smile on the faces of those children who are unfortunately spending Christmas in hospital.'
Ahead of the visit, the players pledged their support to the hospital by committing to fund a Health Measurement Kiosk which will help patients, families and members of staff calculate their heart age free of charge.
The project will be the first of its kind to build an infrastructure inside an acute hospital to support well-being and establish a research database where users can voluntarily donate their data for research purposes.