Manchester City secured their position in the final 32 of the Europa League after executing a comfortable 3-0 win over Salzburg. Manchester City thus far, have earned 10 points in Group A to land the top spot, ahead of Lech Poznan, Juventus and Red Bull
Salzburg. Manchester City are sure to enter the next round with one game to spare.
The ground was glossed with snow. 43 years ago Manchester City beat Tottenham to celebrate their second league title. Roberto Mancini was content with his men. City looked good as they went into the game. Mario Balotelli helped City with two amazing goals,
one in each half. A late individual goal by Adam Johnson helped City seal the crucial three points. Slazburg rarely seemed to threaten City's triumph.
Manchester City were able to hold the major chunk of the possession. City could have scored more goals especially in the first-half.
City gave birth to excitement as early as the third minute. Veira flicked the ball to Jo, at a threatening position, who was tackled effectively by Franz Schiemer. Balotelli made his presence felt after he cut from the left but over-stepped the pedal as
his shot went over. In the 15th minute City attacked again, but this time goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel blocked the decent effort from Balotelli.
Salzburg's defence finally gave way in the 18th minute. Pablo Zabaleta steered a cross to Balotelli on the left, the cross was at an awkward height but Balotelli tamed it well and shot the ball past Gerhard Tremmel. The Italia broke the dead-lock. City appealed
for a penalty later on in the 32nd minute but referee Libor Kovarik did not budge.
The finishing moments of the first-half saw Milners challenging strike going wide of the post. This concluded the first half. Manchester City went into half-time 1-0 up.
City entered the second half with confidence and hopes of piling onto their lead. Wright-Phillips got to work but the winger could not deliver an effective cross to Jo and Balotelli as the cross was short and got cleared. City fumbled another good chance
when Wright-Phillips and Jerome tied up but Balotelli's strike was just shy of the goal. Later Milner was set up by Johnson but he could not move the score-line with his 20-yard shot, which went over the bar.
Balotelli's efforts finally awarded him his second goal in the 65th minute. However, he might have suffered from groin injury as he barely offered a glimpse of excitement in the second half. Balotelli fell shy of his hat-trick as a minute later his strike
found the side-netting. He was the star of the match and received a standing ovation as he left the ground after being substituted for Emmanuel Adebayor in 71th minute.
The Italian Balotelli is a 25-million-pound signing for Manchester City, and has started to claim his worth. When talking about the Italian striker Mancini claimed “For him it’s normal to score. He could score every day."
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