City ease into group stage

Wright-Phillips: Congratulated by Silva on opener

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Manchester City are through to the group stage of the Europa League after claiming a comfortable 2-0 win in the second leg of their play-off against FC Timisoara.

Shaun Wright-Phillips and teenage Belgian defender Dedryck Boyata scored in each half for a dominant City side, who secured a 3-0 aggregate victory.

Aston Villa and Celtic crashed out on Thursday night while Liverpool laboured through their play-off but City's progression was never in doubt.

Roberto Mancini made seven changes to the side which beat Liverpool 3-0 on Monday but the big-spending Blues still fielded a star-studded line-up.

The Romanian visitors frustrated them during the first half until Wright-Phillips broke the deadlock just before the break.

Boyata, handed his first appearance of the season along with Patrick Vieira, then headed home just before the hour mark for his first senior goal.

The Blues will now eagerly anticipate the group stage draw, which takes place at noon on Friday.

Kompany captain

With new captain Carlos Tevez given a breather on the bench, Vincent Kompany was named skipper for the evening while goalkeeper Joe Hart, Micah Richards and Nigel de Jong were the other City players to remain from Monday's hugely-encouraging win over Liverpool.

Yet despite switching things around, Mancini was still able to call on two World Cup winners in Spanish playmaker David Silva and French veteran Vieira.

City got off to a flying start with De Jong racing forward before firing in a shot that brought the best out of goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon.

That set the tone and Timisoara were again forced on the back foot in the 12th minute when Jo, making his first City start for 19 months, showed good footwork before firing through the goalmouth.

The Brazilian striker, who appears to have won favour with Mancini after loan spells with Everton and Galatasaray, was partnered up front by Emmanuel Adebayor.

City kept up the pressure and almost opened the scoring in the 37th minute, when Jo had a header tipped over from Silva's cross.

Then Adebayor squandered a good chance when he burst through following Jo's tackle to fire narrowly wide of the far post.

Deadlock broken

City eventually got their reward, though, as De Jong picked out Vieira and he split the defence with a glorious through-ball for Wright-Phillips to sweep the ball home from 14 yards.

Timisoara rallied briefly during the second half as substitute Ianis Zicu's long-range effort kept Hart alert.

But the hosts made it 2-0 on the night and 3-0 on aggregate as Boyata lost his marker at the far post to head home from Silva's inswinging free-kick from deep on the City right.

That goal sparked a fierce spell of pressure from City which saw Adebayor waste a great chance to grab the goal his work-rate warranted, firing wide from close range following a dreadful back-pass by Ovidiu Burca.

Then Silva saw a close-range effort blocked by Pantilimon before Jo headed narrowly wide from the resulting corner.

It was becoming little more than a training exercise with City spraying the ball about before Silva cut inside late on and fired in a shot that Pantilimon did well to push high into the night air.