Man City 2 - 0 Birmingham - Mancini on hargreaves wondergoal | Carling Cup 2011-12
- 10 years ago
Owen Hargreaves put his injury problems behind him with a fabulous goal on his debut as Manchester City beat holders Birmingham City to reach the fourth round of the Carling Cup.
Hargreaves, who left Manchester United on a free during the summer, drilled a 22-yard beauty to open the scoring.
Mario Balotelli sealed an easy win from Pablo Zabaleta's cross on 38 minutes.
Birmingham rarely looked like troubling the hosts, with Curtis Davies seeing their best chance cleared off the line.
It was a tame way for the visitors' hold on the Carling Cup to come to an end, with Chris Hughton's side surrendering the trophy with a toothless display.
But in truth this match was all about Hargreaves' return, even overshadowing Kolo Toure's comeback after serving a six-month ban for a failed drugs test.
The 30-year-old midfielder was excellent during his 57-minute return.
Eyebrows were raised when Hargreaves was signed on a free transfer by City after his release by United given his injury problems over the past three years, but over the course of nearly an hour in this match he cast many of those doubts aside.
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Hargreaves, who left Manchester United on a free during the summer, drilled a 22-yard beauty to open the scoring.
Mario Balotelli sealed an easy win from Pablo Zabaleta's cross on 38 minutes.
Birmingham rarely looked like troubling the hosts, with Curtis Davies seeing their best chance cleared off the line.
It was a tame way for the visitors' hold on the Carling Cup to come to an end, with Chris Hughton's side surrendering the trophy with a toothless display.
But in truth this match was all about Hargreaves' return, even overshadowing Kolo Toure's comeback after serving a six-month ban for a failed drugs test.
The 30-year-old midfielder was excellent during his 57-minute return.
Eyebrows were raised when Hargreaves was signed on a free transfer by City after his release by United given his injury problems over the past three years, but over the course of nearly an hour in this match he cast many of those doubts aside.
/football on Youtube brings you the latest football news, transfer rumours and footballing gossip from the English Premier League and European Champions League.