It's Always Him - Mario Balotelli Fires Manchester City To Victory Over Spurs

Jermain Defoe would have wanted the ground to open up and swallow him as he watched Mario Balotelli calmly dispatch the winning penalty in the 95^th minute at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. The Tottenham frontman had just minutes earlier missed a golden opportunity to give Spurs all three points, when he failed to direct Gareth Bale’s (admittedly slightly over hit) cross goalwards. He later went on to rue his miss as City managed to win the game deep into stoppage time.

The home side lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with the attacking trio of Samir Nasri, David Silva and Sergio Aguero supporting Edin Dzeko, while Gareth Barry and James Milner sat deep. Spurs, on the other hand, played a 4-4-1-1, with Rafael Van Der Vaart supporting Defoe who replaced the ineligible Emmanuel Adebayor upfront.

Spurs Missed His Services

And the Togolese striker’s physical presence was sorely missed in the first half as Stefan Savic and Joleon Lescott gobbled up a majority of the aerial balls directed towards them. Tottenham constantly got themselves into threatening positions, but Defoe was severely starved of service due to the fact that Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon kept drifting infield, combined with the lack of quality crosses into the box by the full-backs.

As for City, they failed to test Brad Friedel enough. Sergio Aguero particularly stood out, nonetheless, the diminutive Argentine displaying amazing ball control and upper body strength. With most of the battles taking place in midfield, the first forty-five minutes made for uninteresting viewing.

After that drab first half which resembled more of a chess match, both sides decided to turn on the afterburners in the second half. It made for spectacular viewing, as a frantic nine-minute period resulted in four of the five goals.

Samir Nasri triggered the goal fest, as a magical through ball by David Silva found the Frenchman in bags of space, who made no mistake from the edge of the penalty area. The goal bore a striking resemblance to the one scored by him at the Emirates Stadium against Manchester United for Arsenal three years ago. In this case, a smart diagonal run by Aguero caused Younes Kaboul to move out of position, which freed up the space for Nasri in the centre to have a go.

A scrappy goal by Joleon Lescott soon followed, and at 2-0 City looked like running away with it.

However, Spurs displayed some of their new-found fighting spirit, and got back into the game almost instantly. An innocuous punt upfield by Kaboul wasn’t dealt with effectively by Savic, and the fortunate Defoe capitalized on some poor goalkeeping by Joe Hart.

There was nothing fortuitous about the second goal though, as Gareth Bale curled a peach of an equaliser into the top corner.

With both sides battling it out for the win, the stage was set for the ‘Madman from Manchester’ to come on and secure the victory for the Citizens. And win the game he did, as a costly mistake by Ledley King, who up to that point had been solid, led to the penalty from which the winner was scored.

Shouldn't Balotelli Have Been Sent-Off?

However, there remains a doubt as to whether Balotelli should’ve been on the pitch at that time. His quite blatant ‘stamp’ on Scott Parker, according to Redknapp, wasn’t the first or the last one ever.

Lescott too, appeared to have elbowed Kaboul, and with Kolo Toure away at the African Cup of Nations, City cannot afford to lose another centre-back.

Nevertheless, at the end of the day, all that matters is the three points. City got the job done, and in doing so have taken another step towards the Premier League title. Credit, however, should be given to Spurs as well, as they proved that they’ve come a long way since that 5-1 drubbing at the hands of City in North London. Champion material? Maybe not. Top-Four material? Certainly.

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