Villarreal 0 Manchester City 3: match report

Surely it cannot continue to look so easy for Manchester City?

Another game, another rout as Roberto Mancini’s team cruised past Villarreal to take their goal haul to 27 goals in seven games since the roof threatened to cave at Bayern Munich six weeks ago.

City have seemingly forgotten how to make life difficult for themselves and even a Yellow Submarine failed to halt their cruise towards the Champions League knock-out stages.

Two goals from Yaya Toure and a first-half penalty from Mario Balotelli secured City’s first victory on Spanish soil, moving them into second place ahead of this month’s decisive clash against Napoli in Italy.

Villarreal, nicknamed the Yellow Submarines, were brushed aside, but with qualification for the knock-out stages up for grabs with a victory in Naples on Nov 22, Mancini has warned that the intimidating Stadio San Paolo will be no place for complacency

“It’s important to be in second place, but we know everything will depend on Naples.” Mancini said. “We now have two results to go for against Napoli, but it is clear that if we win there, we will go through to the second stage.

“But every time they play at night in Naples, there is an incredible atmosphere and it will be very difficult. There will be 60,000 people there and if we lose, it will be difficult for us (to qualify).

“I enjoyed this performance, though. Villarreal were without some important players, but it is not easy to win away in Europe and it is good for our confidence. If we qualify fir the second stage, anything can happen.” Villarreal were hamstrung — literally — by a raft of injuries to key players, most notably the former Manchester United forward Giuseppe Rossi, who faces six months on the sidelines with a cruciate ligament injury.

With a further six players out of action, including midfielder Marcos Senna and Brazilian forward Nilmar, Villarreal faced a mountain to climb merely to revive their hopes of securing the consolation prize of a place in the Europa League in the new year.

For much of the first-half, however, Villarreal stuck rigidly to their defensive shape, suffocating the space around the City players — David Silva, in particular — and only broke forward with long passes to lone striker, Joselu.

Joselu should have opened the scoring for the hosts on 17 minutes when he escaped Vincent Kompany and Stefan Savic to receive a forty yard pass just inside the City penalty area, but the Spanish forward took his eye off the ball at the crucial moment and mis-controlled, enabling City to clear the danger.

Silva, the former Valencia winger, was forced to overcome the shackles imposed by the close marking of Borja Valero on his first return to Spain in a City shirt, but with everything flowing through the mercurial playmaker, it was no surprise when Silva created the opening for Yaya Toure to put Mancini’s team ahead.

Silva appeared to be expecting a return ball from Toure as he laid the pass off before darting into the penalty area.

But his run opened the space for the former Barcelona midfielder and Toure stroked the ball beyond goalkeeper Diego Lopez and into the far corner of the net from 18 yards to claim his first goal of the season and hand City the lead.

City sensed an opportunity to extend their lead, however, and Portuguese referee Pedro Proenca correctly pointed to the penalty spot deep into first-half stoppage time following a shove by Mateo Musacchio on Balotelli.

The Italian striker stepped up to score his seventh goal in seven games, despite attempts to distract him with a laser pen being brandished in his direction from the stands.

Faced with incessant jeers, Balotelli stared down his terrace tormentors after scoring his goal, but although the nature of booing could have been construed as monkey chanting, Mancini dismissed such suggestions after the game, while club officials confirmed that the issue was not raised by Balotelli or any of his team-mates in the dressing-room There was no doubting the presence of the laser pen, however. Television cameras also highlighted the green beam being shone on the face of referee Proenca in the second-half and, with City midfielder Samir Nasri forced to bear the brunt of objects thrown at him while taking a corner — mainly paper aeroplanes and litter — Villarreal could find themselves the subject of a Uefa investigation.

The off-field nonsense did not affect City’s performance, however, as they comfortably dealt with the minimal threat posed by their opponents on the pitch.

Balotelli was unlucky not to score his second on 53 minutes when, after being teed up by James Milner, he turned sharply 25 yards out and saw a powerful shot deflected behind for a corner.

The defensive organisation and solidity displayed by Villarreal in the first-half began to evaporate as the combined talents of Silva and Nasri ensured wave after wave of City attacks as the second-half progressed.

Silva’s involvement was halted, however, by a knock which led to him being replaced by Adam Johnson, but City had found their groove and the change made little difference.

It merely enabled Nasri to claim centre stage as City’s creative force and the French midfielder filled the void left by Silva by creating the third goal for Toure with a pass which released Balotelli to tee up the Ivorian.

Balotelli’s first-time pass to Toure resulted in the midfielder beating the helpless Lopez with a right-foot strike from 20 yards to confirm victory.

Now for Naples.