Impressive Inter maul City

Balotelli: Missing in action

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Teams

• Inter Milan
• Manchester City

Players

• Patrick Vieira
• Mario Balotelli

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Manchester City target Mario Balotelli was absent for Inter Milan as the Serie A champions ran out 3-0 winners in their pre-season friendly against Roberto Mancini's men.

Much of the build-up surrounded the future of the 19-year-old with a transfer to the Premier League in the pipeline, however he did not even feature on the bench as an ill-tempered affair ensued on the pitch.

With several clashes going unpunished in the pre-season friendly in Maryland, City were soon reduced to ten men when former Inter star Patrick Vieira was adjudged to have elbowed Marco Materazzi in the 21st minute.

The European champions used their extra man to their advantage when Nsofor Victor Obinna opened the scoring with 39 minutes gone as he was fed through by Esteban Cambiasso and his finish took a deflection off defender Micah Richards.

Cambiasso was in fine form as the 29-year-old pulled the strings for the Italian giants in the middle of the park who took control of the game when Vieira was given his marching orders.

Lone striker

The Blues were forced to push right-back Pablo Zabaleta into midfield with Emmanuel Adebayor playing as a lone striker following Vieira's dismissal.

City boss Mancini, who was absent for the friendly because he was attending to his sick father, would have not been impressed by the display from his side, as the European champions ran riot against a below-par Premier League outfit.

Inter's pressure paid off in the second-half when Obinna saw his effort take a wicked deflection off Joleon Lescott and beat Shay Given in the 54th minute.

A stunning 35-yard strike from youngster Cristiano Biraghi wrapped up the scoring and the win for the Treble winners, making sure City ended their pre-season in vain.