Source: Daily_Mail
Villarreal 0 Manchester City 3: Toure and Balotelli seal points for Mancini
At last a European performance of stature from Manchester City. At last something to build on. [LNB]Manager Roberto Mancini may have ended the game with an ice pack on his head after banging it on the dugout roof but that, frankly, was as uncomfortable as it got for the Italian and his players against a woeful Villarreal team at Estadio El Madrigal on Wednesday night.[LNB][LNB] Brace yourself: Toure bagged two for City as they cruised to victory in Spain[LNB] [LNB]MATCH FACTS Villarreal: Diego Lopez, Mario, Rodriguez, Musacchio, Catala, De Guzman (Angel 76), Marchena, Valero, Wakaso (Bordas 76), Perez (Oriol 84), Joselu. [LNB]Subs not used: Cesar, Gullon, Tomas, Fofo. [LNB]Booked: Musacchio, Marchena, Catala, Perez, Wakaso.[LNB]Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Savic, Clichy, De Jong, Toure Yaya (Aguero 74), Milner, Silva (Johnson 65), Nasri, Balotelli (Kolarov 82). [LNB]Subs not used: Pantilimon, Lescott, Dzeko, Barry. [LNB]Booked: Balotelli. [LNB]Goals: Yaya Toure (30, 71), Balotelli (48). [LNB]Attendance: 24,235 [LNB]Referee: Pedro Proenca (Portugal).[LNB]City's last away game in the Champions League, a 2-0 defeat at Bayern Munich, left them battered and bruised in lots of ways. [LNB]Here, the ride was a comfortable one and they look likely now to reach the knockout stage in their debut season at this level. [LNB]Perhaps this performance did not contain much of the exhilarating and precise football that has been a feature of City's romp through the first quarter of the Barclays PremierLeague season. [LNB]The group stage of the Champions League is no place for self-indulgence, though. It is effective, methodical and reliable football that matters at this stage of the competition and that is what City produced in south-east Spain. In each of their three Group A games before last night, City had conceded the first goal. [LNB]A 2-0 defeat at Bayern Munich will always be remembered for events off the field - or in the dugout to be precise - but equally sobering that night was how inferior City were to Munich. [LNB]If that defeat was excusable, the waythat City laboured against last night's opponents in Manchester a fortnight ago was not, with Sergio Aguero rescuing City with a goal in the fourth minute of added time. [LNB] Taking a tumble: Balotelli goes down in the box and slots home the resulting penalty (below)[LNB] [LNB] Mancini, despite his sore head, will awake in London deeply satisfied this morning, City having travelled there direct from Spain ahead of Sunday's league game against Queens Park Rangers. [LNB]He has been delighted by his team's football this season but he remains a pragmatist at heart.[LNB]To the Italian, functional football is as impressive and rewarding as expansive football, especially away from home. [LNB]Clean sheets thrill him too, of course, and last night he got one of those from his team as well. [LNB] Put it there: City's heroes on the night celebrate after another goal[LNB] [LNB]He will travel to Naples for the defining game of this campaign later this month hoping to use last night's match as a template.[LNB] Despite Villarreal's limitations, and they were awful last night, Mancini deserves some credit for the wayhe set about this task. [LNB]Villarreal were missing seven first -team players and then lost another, the midfielder Bruno Soriano, to anstomach upset on the afternoon of the game. [LNB]Nevertheless, Mancini knew this was a game his team really had to win. [LNB]The temptation must have been to send out the same attacking team he selected in Munich. [LNB] Silva lining? The City midfielder hobbled off with a few minutes to go[LNB] [LNB]But, perhaps aware of what happened that night, the City manager changed tack, selecting striker Mario Balotelli at the spear of a 4-2-3-1 formation that also featured young Montenegro defender Stefan Savic at the centre of his backline. [LNB]Credit to Mancini, for his plan worked. Villarreal found themselves smothered in the centre of the fieldand, as such, they never found any kind of fluency and certainly never managed to build any kind of momentum.[LNB] After a slow start, City did manage to move relentlessly and ominously forwards and it was not long before they began to resemble the home team.[LNB] Villarreal forward Hernan Perez did bring a low save from goalkeeper Joe Hart with a shot from distance early on while striker Joselu failed to control a pass from deep in the 17th minute as he briefly looked as though he may be clear on goal. [LNB] Double your money: Toure celebrates his second after being mobbed on scoring the opener (below)[LNB] [LNB] [LNB]That, though, was pretty much as good as it got for the Spaniards. City soon got to grips with the game and, after a Samir Nasri shot flew wide and a free-kick from David Silva hit the wall, they took the lead on the half hour. [LNB]Mancini was still recovering from his little accident when Silva played Yaya Toure in and the City midfielder sent full-back Gonzalo Rodriguez the wrong way with a dummy before side-footing the ball across the goalkeeper and in to the far corner. [LNB]By now City were as dominant as an away team could be. Villarreal looked terribly disjointed and were bad-tempered too. [LNB]Midfielder Wakaso Mubarak and left-back Jose Catala were both booked before half-time and then, after pushing the ball through Carlos Marchena's legs in first half-injury time, Balotelli was pushed to the ground by Mateo Musacchio. [LNB] Stroll in the park: City were rarely troubled on a comfortable night for the club[LNB] Friends? Former foes Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane share a joke[LNB]Balotelli, beginning to show signs ofa little maturity, ignored the inconvenience of a laser pen being shoneat him from the behind the goal to convert the resulting penalty and City went in at half-time two goals to the good.[LNB] In his heart, Mancini must have known that the game was effectively won by now.[LNB] ITV pundit Martin O'Neill used half-time to describe Villarreal as the worst Spanish team he had seen and if that was a little harsh on a side ripped asunder by injuries theycertainly did not look like a group capable of recovering a two-goal deficit. [LNB]This, indeed, was how it turned out. [LNB]City played within themselves in the second half but still found time to score a goal that will not often be bettered in Europe this season. [LNB]Gael Clichy, Nasri and Balotelli were involved on the left side before the Italian played Toure in. [LNB]The shimmy past a defender was typical of a truly multi-dimensional footballer and the finish - sendingthe keeper the wrong way - was entirely appropriate to what had gone before. [LNB] Balotelli going down in flames... as huge effigy is unveiled of star for Bonfire NightApologise and you're back in the team, Mancini tells rebel TevezCHAMPIONS LEAGUE LIVE: Manchester United v Galati and Villarreal v Manchester City - as it happensChampions League round-up: Ronaldo's Real ton up as Madrid go through to last 16Manchester United 2 Otelul Galati 0: Valencia spares the blushes but home is no comfort for FergieRooney happy with midfield cameo in United's hard-earned victoryFergie: We were so stupid in the derby clash with Manchester CityAll the latest Manchester City news, features and opinion[LNB]
