As part of a fun challenge with Manchester City’s long-standing partner Etihad Airways, The Barnsley Beckenbauer took to the skies to safely land in a Boeing-787 simulator against his City team-mates, Nathan Ake and Aymeric Laporte.

 In a new video which was recently released, ahead of their match in Istanbul, the players went head-to-head in a flight school challenge to find out which player could record the fastest controlled landing at the airports of one of Etihad Airways’ new destinations including Copenhagen, Lisbon and Kolkata.

 Stepping into a replica cockpit, the three footballers were handed the controls of the simulator aircraft where they were faced with navigating changing weather conditions and wind speeds. They started from an altitude high above their chosen airport, with the aim to make the approach and perform a safe landing on the runway in the fastest time.

 Whilst Ake (The Flying Dutchman) and Laporte (Captain Aymerica) recorded impressive scores landing into Copenhagen and Lisbon respectively, it was Stones who soared to the top of the leader board with the best landing time of 2 minutes 59 seconds.