Manchester City continued their reversal in fortunes after an unimpressive start to their Champions League campaign, with a 3-0 victory over Villarreal at El Madrigal stadium. Despite having only picked up a single point from their opening two games in the group stage, City has now recorded consecutive victories over Villarreal, and will qualify for the next round of the tournament, should they beat Napoli in the next match.

The Spanish side never looked in control of the game, but were initially encouraged by their defense, which was doing a good job of stifling City’s attacking threats in the opening minutes. Even with Villarreal’s defense on form, they could do very little to prevent City from taking the lead in the 30^th minute.

David Silva managed to break away from his marker, creating space for himself, before squaring the ball to the waiting Yaya Toure, who placed the ball with precision into the bottom left hand corner of the goal. The visitors continued to press their advantage, and were rewarded in the final seconds of the first half when they were awarded a penalty.

Mario Balotelli’s advance into the Villarreal penalty box was brought to a premature end when Mateo Musacchio was judged to have brought down the Italians. The referee then pointed to the spot, and Balotelli picked himself up to dispatch the ball beyond the reaches of Diego Lopez.

The second half brought no respite for Villarreal, as they looked outplayed and outclassed by a City side which were not even performing to their full capability. Indeed, the visitors seemed content to sit back and maintain their two goal lead, instead of pushing to extend their lead.

But City’s class was to surface yet again as goal scorer Balotelli turned provider in the 71^st minute. After receiving the ball from Samir Nasri, Balotelli quickly played the ball onto Toure, who slipped past defender Carlos Marchena, and proceeded to beat Lopez from close range for his second of the night.

While the three goal victory doesn’t do justice to the domination City enjoyed, the win means that City will rise above Napoli in their group, meaning that they require only a victory against the Italian side to ensure their qualification, and will not have to rise to the challenge of beating Bayern Munich in a difficult ending to the group stages.

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