Manchester City Football Club

• Nickname:Sky Blues
• Founded:1887
• Manager:Roberto Mancini

• Ground:City of Manchester Stadium
• Capacity:47805

Mancini pleased to see Balotelli make his mark

20 Aug 2010 - 09:40:53

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Roberto Mancini hailed Mario Balotelli after the Italian striker marked his Manchester City debut with a goal after stepping off the substitute's bench against Timisoara on Thursday.

The 20-year-old scored the only goal of the match in the 72nd minute as City won their play-off first leg victory in Romania.

Balotelli has only been at Eastlands for less than a week following his transfer from Inter Milan and Mancini said: "He had a great debut and I am happy that he scored. He is a good player.

"He needs to improve of course and get to know everybody. It was the first time he had played with the team.

"We must work on this with him though because it will be different in the Premier League than in Italy.

"We do not think it (the injury to Balotelli) is serious. It was probably just a kick, it is not a problem.

"It was a difficult game because Timisoara are a good team and they played very well in the first half. In the end, it is a good result for us. But they made it difficult for us by getting so many players behind the ball.

"All the players played well, especially in the second half, and we moved the ball quickly. When (Adam) Johnson came on, he also did well. I think we deserved to score another goal because we had three or four good chances.

"Football is strange. When you think you can win easily, you must have maximum concentration."