Debut strike puts Manchester City ahead in Europa League tie
New arrival Mario Balotelli had an eventful debut for Manchester City as he netted the only goal in the English Premier League club’s UEFA Europa League play-off first-leg match away to Timisoara. The £24m forward also found his name in the referee’s book and suffered a knock in the closing stages.
The Italy international’s 72nd-minute strike came after some nice work from strike partner Emmanuel Adebayor as he put City in pole position to qualify for the group stage of the competition.
Manager Roberto Mancini had made three changes to the side which started against Tottenham Hotspur in a goalless draw on Saturday with Pablo Zabaleta, Joleon Lescott and Emmanuel Adebayor were named ahead of Micah Richards, Aleksandar Kolarov – who was injured in the EPL opener – and Shaun-Wright Phillips.
Penalty claim shot down
Despite boasting a wealth of expensive talent, it was Timisoara who began the match more positively. Indeed, the majority inside the stadium were up in arms after 15 minutes, when the home team had a claim for a penalty turned down after it looked as though Zabaleta collided with Cosmin Contra inside the area.
City were struggling to keep possession and had another close shave when Timisoara had another shout for a spot-kick turned down. The ball struck Vincent Kompany’s hand after 35 minutes, but the penalty claim was turned down with the referee ruling the contact was accidental. City immediately had another lucky escape when goalkeeper Joe Hart had to push away a deflected shot by Contra.
Chances for visitors
For the majority of the first half, Timisoara kept the visiting team quiet but City began to show what their players were capable of late in the opening period. City captain Carlos Tevez almost found himself through on goal after picking up a cross from Gareth Barry, but his first touch was a little too heavy and he lost control. After the interval, it was the turn of David Silva to begin showing why City had shelled out around £25 million for his services in the summer when he had a shot blocked.
Striker makes first appearance
City had grabbed the game by the lapel by this point and were proving too much for the Romanian minnows to deal with when Balotelli was introduced after 57 minutes in place of Barry as the City manager switched to a more ambitious 4-3-3 formation in a bid to grab a crucial away goal.
The 20-year-old striker quickly found himself involved as his 20-yard drive sailed far over the target, before shooting into the side netting. Fellow summer arrival Yaya Toure came even closer to an opening goal when he thumped a shot against the post, but former Inter Milan player Balotelli soon swept the ball into the net after strong build-up play from Adebayor ended in a cross-c*m-shot.
City should have found themselves further ahead but Toure’s effort was saved by Timisoara goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon and the menacing Balotelli fired over.
'Happy' Balotelli scored
Mancini declared himself pleased with Balotelli's debut. He told reporters after the game that: "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.''
The City boss added that he was satisfied with his team’s improvement in the second half: "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.''
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