Toure double helps City see off Villarreal

A brace from Toure Yaya helped Manchester City cruise to a 3-0 victory away to rock bottom Villarreal in Champions League Group A on Wednesday and give them a fighting chance of qualifying for the knock-out stages. Despite leading the way in the Premier League, City made a slow start in Europe but now with home and away victories over Villarreal, who are yet to pick up a point, they have moved up to seven points, two more than Napoli who lost to leaders Bayern Munich who have ten. City’s chances of progressing are in their own hands with a match away to Napoli and then finally they entertain Bayern in Manchester. Toure, who won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2009, put City ahead after 30 minutes and then Mario Balotelli added a second from the penalty spot in first half injury time. City always looked a class above their Spanish rivals and Toure sealed the win on 70 minutes. Villarreal have had a disappointing start to the season due in part to an injury crisis and their win at the weekend over Rayo Vallecano was their first in eight games. They lined up against City without a whole host of first team regulars including the attacking duo of Giuseppe Rossi and Nilmar while Bruno Soriano was a last minute withdrawal through a stomach upset. There was no place for Sergio Aguero, who scored the winning goal in their first match, in manager Roberto Mancini’s starting lineup in Spain with the Argentine rested while Stefan Savic was given his chance in defence with Joleon Lescott on the bench. Hernan Perez tested City keeper Joe Hart from distance in the opening minutes but the visitors quickly began to dominate in the middle of the pitch as Villarreal seemed happy to sit back and counter-attack. The plan seemed to be working as City, who had Balotelli as a loan striker, were kept away from dangerous areas while youngster Joselu Moreno, making his Champions League debut, failed to latch onto a lofted ball over the City defence when he might have done better. In-form David Silva began to exert more of an influence on the game and hit a free-kick against the wall after being upended by Wakaso Mubarak on the edge of the area. City had not created a clear-cut chance before Toure put them ahead on the hour mark with a finish that was made far too easy by the Villarreal defence. Receiving the ball from Silva he was given time inside the box to set himself up and fire past keeper Diego Lopez. A dispirited Villarreal tried to pick themselves up and Jose Catala from 25 yards had a strong shot comfortably saved by Hart but City went into the break with a two-goal cushion after Mateo Musacchio pulled back Balotelli in the box. It was Balotelli who coolly dispatched the penalty, sending the keeper the wrong way. After the break City were happy to ease their way through the game and Villarreal were comfortably outplayed. Balotelli and Silva continued to trouble the Villarreal backline without causing too much danger but it was enough as the home side could not construct any moves of their own. A weak strike from Borja Valero after 61 minutes was all that Villarreal could muster and City at a canter added a third with 20 minutes to go through Toure. The powerful midfielder burst past Catala and then shot clinically into the corner.