Dream debut: Balotelli is congratulated after his debut goalManchester City manager Roberto Mancini hailed Mario Balotelli's match-winning debut as one of the best he has seen and promised there is more to come from the £23million wild child.
On a night when Liverpool's Joe Cole missed a penalty in the 1-0 win over Trabzonspor and Aston Villa's youngsters held Rapid Vienna 1-1, Balotelli needed just 15 minutes as a substitute to sink FC Timisoara in Romania in the first leg of their Europa League play-off.
Liverpool 1 Trabzonspor 0: Read John Edwards' match report
Timisoara 0 Manchester City 1: Read Colin Young's match report
The Italy striker, who joined City from Inter Milan only on Monday, nearly scored a hat-trick, went into referee Florian Mayer's book and ended the game receiving treatment before hobbling off.
But Mancini hopes the 20-year-old will be fit to face Liverpool at Eastlands on Monday.
'We think it is not serious, probably just a kick but not a problem,' said the City manager.
'He had a great debut, one of the best, and I'm very happy that he scored. He is a good player, but it is important he gets to know his team-mates.
'It was the first time he had played with the team, and he will get better.'
City's first-half performance lacked creativity, but Mancini warned it would take nearly a month for his new £130m additions to gel with his existing squad, and made just three changes so they could work on it.
Worry: Balotelli suffered a knee injury late in the gameBalotelli's away goal puts them on the verge of Europa League qualification and, even against a side who knocked out Shakhtar Donetsk, City will expect to progress on home turf.
Mancini added: 'It was a difficult game because Timisoara played very well in the first half. When Adam Johnson came on, he also did well. I think we deserved to score another goal because we had three or four chances.'
Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson admitted his side now face a testing trip to Turkey next week after a gaining a slender advantage over Trabzonspor.
Ryan Babel scored the only goal as the Reds beat the Turkish Cup winners 1-0 in the first leg of their Europa League play-off at Anfield.
Victory would have been much more comfortable had Joe Cole converted a second-half penalty and debutant Christian Poulsen not had a goal disallowed.
'I think with our second-half performance we can probably count ourselves unlucky,' said Hodgson, who made seven changes and gave captain Steven Gerrard a night off.
Head in his hands: Joe Cole shows his dejection'We probably did deserve the extra goal which would have made the trip to Turkey more comfortable. Now it won't be comfortable at all.
'If you miss a penalty you can't blame anybody but yourselves but I thought we were unlucky with the disallowed goal.
'Overall I am very pleased with the result and performance, especially second half, but whether it will be good enough to take to Trabzonspor, only time will tell.'
Cole's miss continued a miserable week for the former Chelsea midfielder, who was sent off against Arsenal on Sunday and found guilty of speeding yesterday.
He now begins a three-match domestic suspension starting with Monday's Barclays Premier League trip to Manchester City.
Nail biting: Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson watches on anxiouslyYet Cole did set up Babel's goal and was involved in the build-up to the close-range Poulsen strike which was disallowed.
It was unclear at the time whether it had been ruled out for a foul on goalkeeper Onur Kivrak by Cole or for offside, but Hodgson felt it was the former.
'TV replays showed there was no real contact between Joe Cole and the goalkeeper,' he said.
'That's one of the things that happens these days. He was clever enough I think to cover up his error by pretending to be fouled and the referee unfortunately wasn't in a position to see through the masquerade.'
source :dailymail
