Europa League player ratings: Manchester City v Red Bull Salzburg

Given – Great to see Shay get a game and some slack defending gave him the opportunity to make a couple of saves. A professional showing as you’d expect. 7

Boateng – Showed his quality with some lovely passes down the line for Wright-Phillips. Also timed his tackles impeccably. 7

K Toure (Richards 81) – Good to see him making forward forays to help assert our domination. Kept his focus defensively to set up another clean sheet. 7

Lescott – Excellent defensively and looked a threat in the opposition penalty area at set pieces. Looks keen to get more matches and is a more than adequate back-up for Kolo and Kompany. 7

Zabaleta – Increasingly comfortable at left-back and even provided the cross for Balotelli’s first goal. Defensively he was excellent once again. 7

Vieira – A good run out for the veteran. Some sharp passing instigated attacks and he managed to set up Balotelli’s second when moving into the opposition penalty area. Not always quick enough to get back and cover in front of the defence. 6

Milner – Playing in a deeper central midfield role, James was more involved in the game and it suited him. Able to pick up the ball, lay it off and make forward runs at the right times, this was more like the player who did so well for Villa last season. 7

Wright-Phillips – Eager to be involved and showed great skill in getting out of tight situations and bursting forward. Unfortunately the end product was too often lacking and Mancini probably didn’t see enough to change his opinion of Shaun. 6

A Johnson – Had a game similar to Wright-Phillips where his crossing rarely found a team-mate. Redeemed himself with a brilliant goal, slaloming between three defenders before curling the ball into the net. 7

Jo – A poor first half, summed up by a tumble when through on goal, was followed by a decent second period effectively linking up play. Could have had a couple of goals had team-mates passed to him. 6

Balotelli (Adebayor 70) – Stood with arms folded as the players lined up prior to kick-off. Failed to reappear in time for the second half to begin. Inbetween times there were some moments of brilliance and others of casual self-indulgence. The first goal was a sublime hooked volley. 7

Subs:

Adebayor – Looked keen to make an impression. A shame that little came off for the big man. 6

Richards – Defended competently as the game petered out. 6

Man of the match: As a unit the defence was excellent, but for some demonstrations of his talent it goes to Mario Balotelli.