Villareal 0 Manchester C 3:THE ONLY discomfort Roberto Mancini felt last night came in the form of banging his head on the roof of the dugout, which required him to watch a significant part of this group game with an icepack held against his crown.
Otherwise, it was a pain-free evening for Manchester City, beating the Spaniards for the second time in two weeks to invigorate fresh hope of qualifying for the knockout phase.
City have now moved ahead of Napoli, defeated 3-2 against Bayern Munich, into second position in Group A and can plan ahead to their assignment against the Italians on November 22nd with a renewed sense of confidence. Stadio San Paolo, with almost 60,000 impassioned Neapolitans shoehorned inside, will be a far more daunting proposition than here, but City are increasingly showing they are intrepid travellers.
They would qualify if they can win in Naples and after taking a solitary point from their opening two games, they deserve credit for keeping their nerve in challenging circumstances.
Villarreal were obliging opponents and will almost certainly finish with the group’s wooden spoon, having not taken a single point so far, but there was still something impressively professional and disciplined about the way City ran out easy winners courtesy of two goals from Yaya Toure, sandwiching the penalty from Mario Balotelli that gave them a 2-0 lead.
After scoring three or more times in eight of their first 10 Premier League fixtures, they now seem to have found the trick in Europe, even with Sergio Aguero given the night off until the 75th minute. By the end, Villarreal had a firm understanding of why City are top of the Premier League and enjoying the view.
On the half-hour, David Silva worked the ball through to Toure, just inside the penalty area, and City’s goalscorer eluded the nearest defender, Gonzalo Rodriguez, with ease. Toure took a touch to steady himself before taking advantage of the space he was being afforded to side-foot the ball past Diego Lopez for his first goal of the season.
Mancini likes his players to size up their opponents and not take too many chances early on and he was probably mindful too that they had conceded the first goal in each of their previous Champions League fixtures.
Yet the truth was City were facing a poor side. There was never a prolonged spell in the first half when Joe Hart’s goal was put under sustained pressure and once Balotelli had made it 2-0, the City supporters were entitled to start looking at the different permutations in Group A and conclude that their team were in the process of establishing themselves in an increased position of strength.
Balotelli had flickered only sporadically until this point but the way he slipped the ball through Jose Catala’s legs to get into the penalty area told the story of a man playing with great confidence.
The Portuguese referee, Pedro Proenca, incensed the home crowd at times, but he was correct to rule that Mateo Musacchio had led with his forearm as he and Rodrigruez both tried to beat Balotelli to the ball.
Despite a laser pen being shone from behind Lopez’s goal, Balotelli calmly tucked away the penalty. It was his seventh goal in as many games and the pity is that it provoked a depressing yet now familiar reaction from the Villarreal crowd. Spain may have some of the most refined players on the planet, but the nation’s football supporters continue to undermine it all with racist behaviour.
Aguero was later met with cries of “Aguero, die now” from the most vociferous section of the crowd when he came on as a substitute for Toure.
Mostly, however, the home supporters were frustrated with their own team. Three minutes earlier Balotelli had led a counterattack on the left, sweeping a pass into Toure’s path as the midfielder strode down the middle. He stepped inside one challenge and finished emphatically.
VILLARREAL: Diego Lopez, Mario, Rodriguez, Musacchio, Catala, De Guzman (Angel 76), Marchena, Valero, Wakaso (Bordas 76), Perez (Joan Oriol 84), Joselu. Subs not used: Cesar, Gullon, Tomas, Fofo. Booked: Wakaso, Catala, Musacchio, Marchena, Perez.
MANCHESTER CITY: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Savic, Clichy, De Jong, Toure Yaya (Aguero 74), Milner, Silva (Johnson 65), Nasri, Balotelli (Kolarov 82). Subs not used: Pantilimon, Lescott, Dzeko, Barry. Booked: Balotelli.
Referee: Pedro Proenca (Portugal).
