New signing Mario Balotelli marked his Manchester City debut with the matchwinner against FC Timisoara in the Europa League qualifier first leg.
The Blues dominated possession against their Romanian opponents but struggled for the breakthrough until the introduction of £24million man Balotelli in the second half.
Just 16 minutes into his debut, Balotelli latched onto Emmanuel Adebayor's cross-shot to side-foot into the roof of the net.
He had a chance to double the lead late on but his shot was saved, while earlier Yaya Toure lashed a shot against the post from close range. Balotelli took a knock late on and limped from the field, but the early indications are that his injury is not serious.
The return leg is played at Eastlands next Thursday.
City came up with a performance that was professional without ever stirring the soul.
In many ways it echoed the opening day draw at Spurs, increasing in threat and impetus as the match wore on, against opponents who did not have the guile to trouble the Blues defence.
No doubt many will criticise a display which was lacking the flair you might expect from such an expensively-assembled team.
But it was a competent, effective European away performance, taking the sting out of a excitable home side and then gradually asserting superiority.
Mancini tweaked his team after Saturday’s goalless draw, partially forced to by the news that left back Aleksandar Kolarov is out for up to six weeks with ankle ligament damage.
Joleon Lescott stood in, his first match at full back for the Blues, although he was occasionally used there by Everton.
Pablo Zabaleta, the manger’s Old Dependable, got the nod ahead of Micah Richards, while Emmanuel Adebayor stepped off the bench, in place of Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Mancini – managing the Blues in Europe for the first time - opted to start with the kind of diamond shape he often employed successfully at Inter, with David Silva at the tip and Nigel de Jong as anchor man.
But it was Poli who came out of the traps, no doubt buoyed up by the promise of an £80,000-a-man bonus to beat the Blues – around half of their annual salaries.
They were also keyed up by great home support from the 29,000 crowd – the kind of attendance normally reserved for matches against top domestic clubs.
The 200 City fans were tucked away at one end of the open-air bowl of a stadium, striving to make the strains of “Blue Moon” heard over the din.
Kolo Toure twice had to be sharp as Poli looked to free hitman Mircea Axente, and Zabaleta breathed a sigh of relief as German ref Florian Meyer waved away loud penalty appeals as he nudged over Alex Curtean in the box.
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It was an uncomfortable opening on a balmy night on the plains of western Romania, and Kolo Toure was pole-axed by a vicious Alex Bourceanu shot which hit him in the face and left him dazed.
They are a feisty lot in these parts. Timisoara is where the revolution against the hated dictator Nicolae Ceausescu began 21 years ago, and the prospect of testing themselves against the world’s richest club was met with relish.
Poli began like an outfit which has already played six games this season and which was untroubled by World Cup call-ups in the summer.
City, by contrast, looked like a team meandering into the new season, some still recovering from the mental and physical rigours of South Africa, others striving for match sharpness.
As at White Hart Lane on Saturday, it was a slow start, but Poli did not have the wherewithal to punish them.
Liverpool might not be so incapable on Monday night unless Mancini gets his side’s tempo up right from the whistle.
They finally burst into life in the last five minutes of the first half. Tevez’s poor chest control let him down after Silva had expertly found the Argentine in space deep in Poli territory.
Yaya Toure then zig-zagged through the defence and almost teed up the lurking Lescott as City camped in the opposition half.
City began the second half in more positive mood, Silva marginally offside as he one-two’ed with Emmanuel Adebayor, who had been anonymous in the first half.
Mancini upped the ante 12 minutes after the break, bringing on Balotelli for his debut, which gave a potent-looking front three of the Italian, Adebayor and Silva, with Tevez tucked in behind.
Balotelli was pushed out to the left and he had a sniff of a chance of a debut goal when Tevez’s overhead kick fell into his path – but the angle was too acute and his shot slammed into the side netting.
Yaya Toure missed a sitter moments later when Balotelli’s corner found him at the far post but his shot crashed into the post from six yards out.
But the Blues made the breakthrough a minute later as Adebayor swept the ball across the six-yard box and Balotelli put it nonchalantly into the roof of the net.
Seconds later he was in the book for a tussle, and almost iced the cake with a late curling shot which fizzed past the post.
His night ended on a worrying note as he pulled up sharply, holding the back of his knee and limped off.
What is your verdict on the game? Have your say.
Comments
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What an eventful debut.
Hope the knee's OK.
Avanti Sper mario!
Simple really... you don't need 3 defensive midfielders. Dire until we went 4 2 3 1.
Adebayor and Balotelli looked sharp together.
Barry and Silva well off pace. Expect both to be benched on Mon.
Eased through the game and picked it up when we wanted to. Calmness is not something usually associated with City. Mario looked to have everything, including application. Were you watching Robinho?
CITY played their socks off and passed the ball very well, pressured all the game. CITY looked class tonight. Mario inflicted the damage. CITY are in business and mean business. Beware...
Despite getting 8 correct (under/over 2.5 goals) bets.....typically City were the only team to let me down - hence a £1,500 loss! My heart continues to rule over my head....
Performance ultra defensive, very slow tempo, very very lazy..... but a win is all we needed and we got it.
The only players to put in a shift / put in more than 20% effort were Kompany and Ballotelli.
I'm sorry but the GMR commentary team can't know as much as posters to the BBC live text, even though the game wasn't covered live. According to the posters City were under the cosh for long periods, looked leaden footed and sneaked a win. Liverpool were apparently brilliant.
After watching that i was entertained and enjoyed it,some great little touches and moves i am not getting carried away but we look like a half decent outfit and some of them chances at the end we were so casual it could easily have been 3-0 game over.
Over to the new bitters who cant keep away at the moment.
mario looks an extremely interesting footballer. he's got a real aura about him. bad ass attitude to go with his obvious talent. not sure why he was booked though.
bit of a blunt attack until the second half changes but always looked in control.
very good result.
walk in the park...job done
until balotelli and johnson came on though we were pedestrian
The future is Blue ,MCFC Blue
walk in the park...job done
until balotelli and johnson came on though we were pedestrian
The future is Blue ,MCFC Blue
Negatives first -
Ade - how many times was he offside - lazy lazy .b......
Zab is gonna cost us penaltys this season - lucky not to be sent off -
What was Bobbi thinking of taking Tevez of for Jo ..I thought the possesion was good but absolute boring boring boring city !!
No flair ....no pace in the passing - too much passing back and playing too defensive -
Can see super Mario getting a few reds this season too...well taken goal from a Ade mishit at goal..
Well done on result blues ...
COME ON BLUES
CITY FOR LIFE
GLAZERS FOR LIFE
NUFF SAID !!
a very proffesional job done by the team. never looked like losing, cool and composed on the ball,yaya getting into his stride and super mario with a dream debut, poached a goal, a threat going forward and did his bit defending set pieces. well done mancini and the boys, days gone by this would have been a banana skin, not the new look City, hopefully those days are long behind us!
Hart 4, Zabba 3, Lescott 3, Toure 4, Kompany 6, Yaya 4, Barry 3, Silva 2, De Jong 4, Adebeyor 3, Tevex 3
Subs: Ballotelli 7, Johnson 5, Jo 1
Passing and movement were superb but still no attacking threat until Super Mario came on, he looked really good. Thought he was going to knock someone out at one point though!
How can people be 'shouted down' for saying they weren't impressed that a team of players earning £100m's looked absolutely average against a team comparable to Leyton Orient?!!
hope the knock is not to bad and mario can play against the bin dippers on monday, well done lads for getting a result to bring home sounds like we played well and should have had two or three. another clean sheet looks like we are tightening up at the back.
Whilst I shall not get too carried away, which is always the case amongst Blues, I was particularly happy with how much we dominated possession. Especially after we scored we looked like we were in a warm up game.... to see that on a bad pitch and hostile environment was pleasing.
Mario DID look Super, also. Adebayor? Did not! But he put a good shift in. Just needs to get sharper, pretty much like most of the squad, but still, a win's a win and all that.
Comfortable. But early days, so let's give it a few weeks eh boys before asking UEFA to carve our name on a trophy!
MOM Yaya Toure, makes the game look easy. A deft eye for a crafty pass around the box, sublime skill, a rasping shot on him, loaaaaaaads of time on the ball and a natural ball winner! He looks the best of the signings so far, IMO, of course.
A win is a win.3 - 1 to City is possibly what it should have been.Zab's tackle was certainly a penalty.No killer through ball coming from midfield.Some good individual displays but Kolarov and Boateng are badly missed.The team will need to play much more as a unit against Liverpool.Great to see Balotelli get his first of many City goals.
Yaya and de Jong in the middle is the way to go. Yaya is not a typical 'holding midfielder'. He gets forward, can run with the ball and has an eye for a pass. De Jong is a proper holding player and in my opinion one of the best in the business. Together I think they will work really well. Good to see Lescott do well at left back now Kolarov is out. Balotelli certainly looked good on his debut despite sky news seemingly more interested in emphasising his booking. Personally I thought it was a bad decision by the ref. A good 1-0 win to take into the next leg and more game time for the players to gel.
Yaya is awsome, what a player this guy is. When Ade and Balotelli have played together for a few more games they will be leathel.
Well done blues.
when did we last score from a corner
was it 1979
Damn it, got no ammunition to abuse you!
Anyone know what happened to Balotelli at the end? Banter aside (for one night only) I hope he is ok, would be a bad end to what sounds like an impressive debut.
Completely dominant. Never looked threatened. Treat as good practice. Job done. Get used to the tactics foamers: its catenaccio time!
i thought zabaleta was poor and a liability and i think we played quite boringly.
but a win is a win
Edski -
Are you really a blue ?