Source: Daily_Mail
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini lauds Mario Balotelli's super debut
Manchester City managerRoberto Mancini hailed Mario Balotelli'smatch-winning debut as one of the besthe has seen and promised there is moreto come from the £23million wild child.[LNB]On a night when Liverpool's Joe Cole misseda penalty in the 1-0 win over Trabzonspor andAston Villa's youngsters held Rapid Vienna 1-1,Balotelli needed just 15 minutes as a substituteto sink FC Timisoara in Romania in the first legof their Europa League play-off.[LNB]Liverpool 1 Trabzonspor 0: Read John Edwards' match reportTimisoara 0 Manchester City 1: Read Colin Young's match report Dream debut: Balotelli is congratulated after his debut goal[LNB]The Italy striker, who joined City from InterMilan only on Monday, nearly scored ahat-trick, went into referee Florian Mayer'sbook and ended the game receiving treatment before hobbling off. [LNB] ButMancini hopes the20-year-old will be fitto face Liverpool atEastlands on Monday. [LNB]'We think it is notserious, probably just akick but not a problem,'said the City manager.[LNB]'He had a great debut,one of the best, and I'mvery happy that hescored. He is a goodplayer, but it isimportant he gets toknow his team-mates.[LNB]'Itwas the first time he hadplayed with the team,and he will get better.' [LNB]City's first-halfperformance lackedcreativity, but Manciniwarned it would takenearly a month for hisnew £130m additions togel with his existingsquad, and made justthree changes so theycould work on it.[LNB] Worry: Balotelli suffered a knee injury late in the game[LNB] Balotelli's away goalputs them on the vergeof Europa Leaguequalification and, evenagainst a side whoknocked out ShakhtarDonetsk, City willexpect to progress onhome turf. [LNB]Mancini added: 'It wasa difficult gamebecause Timisoaraplayed very well in thefirst half. When AdamJohnson came on, healso did well. I think wedeserved to scoreanother goal becausewe had three or fourchances.' [LNB]Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson admitted his side now face a testing trip to Turkey next week after a gaining a slender advantage over Trabzonspor. [LNB]Ryan Babel scored the only goal as the Reds beat the Turkish Cup winners 1-0 in the first leg of their Europa League play-off at Anfield. [LNB]Victory would have been much more comfortable had Joe Cole converted a second-half penalty and debutant Christian Poulsen not had a goal disallowed. [LNB]'I think with our second-half performance we can probably count ourselves unlucky,' said Hodgson, who made seven changes and gave captain Steven Gerrard a night off. [LNB] Head in his hands: Joe Cole shows his dejection[LNB]'We probably did deserve the extra goal which would have made the trip to Turkey more comfortable. Now it won't be comfortable at all. [LNB] 'If you miss a penalty you can't blame anybody but yourselves but I thought we were unlucky with the disallowed goal.[LNB] 'Overall I am very pleased with the result and performance, especially second half, but whether it will be good enough to take to Trabzonspor, only time will tell.' [LNB]Cole's miss continued a miserable week for the former Chelsea midfielder, who was sent off against Arsenal on Sunday and found guilty of speeding yesterday. [LNB]He now begins a three-match domestic suspension starting with Monday's Barclays Premier League trip to Manchester City. [LNB] Nail biting: Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson watches on anxiously[LNB]Yet Cole did set up Babel's goal and was involved in the build-up to the close-range Poulsen strike which was disallowed. [LNB] It was unclear at the time whether it had been ruled out for a foul on goalkeeper Onur Kivrak by Cole or for offside, but Hodgson felt it was the former. [LNB]'TV replays showed there was no real contact between Joe Cole and the goalkeeper,' he said. [LNB] 'That's one of the things that happens these days. He was clever enough I think to cover up his error by pretending to be fouled and the referee unfortunately wasn't in a position to see through the masquerade.' [LNB] [LNB] Timisoara 0 Manchester City 1: Super Mario Balotelli spares Roberto Mancini's blushes with debut goal in RomaniaLiverpool 1 Trabzonspor 0: Ryan Babel fires a timely reminder but there's more misery for Joe ColeRapid Vienna 1 Aston Villa 1: Bannan hits first Villa goal but Midlanders held[LNB]
