Dublin Super Cup:Manchester City won the inaugural Dublin Super Cup courtesy of a master class from David Silva, who inspired a comfortable win over Inter Milan at the Aviva Stadium.
The diminutive forward turned the Italians' defence inside out at times and were it not for goalkeeper Julio Cesar the scoreline might have been embarrassing for City manager Roberto Mancini's former club.
The 3-0 win saw Mario Balotelli, Edin Dzeko and Adam Johnson net one each, and left City top the table after the four-game tournament with 12 points, thanks to two wins and six goals scored. Inter dropped back to third on five points after Celtic beat a League of Ireland selection 5-0 in the day's earlier game.
City had seven shots on target in the first half and scored only once, when Mario Balotelli headed home Aleksandr Kolarov's corner in injury-time. Prior to that Silva had run the likes of Christian Chivu and Andrea Ranocchia ragged. In the opening minutes his shot after a mazy run was on target but ruled out because an offside Balotelli has encroached on Cesar.
When Silva picked his way through the defence again, Cesar did brilliantly to deny both Yaya Toure and Balotelli from close range, before Edin Dzeko was questionably ruled offside when finishing a cross from the left.
Inter weren't completely overrun and had chances from distance through Wesely Sneijder and Samuel Eto'o, and when the Cameroonian did get in behind thanks to some neat footwork, he screwed his effort wide from close range.
More often than not, City tested Cesar and they did so again when Balotelli cut inside to curl one that was comfortably fielded before Silva again unlocked the defence with a run through the middle and a dummied shot to set-up Dzeko for another effort that called Cesar into action.
All of which meant City were well worth their lead when it came from former Inter striker Balotelli. Their second, minutes after the restart, was fantastically crafted by Silva when he pivoted under pressure from three Inter defenders and slid the ball through for Dzeko to dispatch past Cesar.
Inter made an effort to get back into the game, but mainly from long range, with Dejan Stankovic hitting two volleys narrowly wide from corners and Sulley Muntari forcing Joe Hart into a fine save from distance. The England goalkeeper also did well to readjust and tip a deflected free-kick over the bar.
Silva still had a central role to play in City's counter-attacks but could have got on the scoresheet had Balotelli's return pass not been lazily executed. Both were replaced to starkly contrasting receptions late on, Balotelli called ashore for Shaun Wright-Phillips with 15 minutes remaining and Silva replaced by Gareth Barry soon afterwards.
Wright-Phillips and Johnson saw a number of efforts to combine thwarted before the latter converted a low cross from his fellow Englishman for City's third.
In the earlier game, the domestic selection began well and threatened through Daniel Kearns on the left but Anthony Stokes's left-footed strike past Ger Doherty gave Celtic a 1-0 halftime lead.
Daryl Murphy doubled that advantage from the spot in the 70th minute and, in costly final six minutes Gary Hooper notched a brace and Stokes added his second with a sublime curling shot into the top corner.
After defeat to City yesterday, Damien Richardson's side ended the tournament having conceded eight and scored none. Celtic were beaten 2-0 by Inter on Saturday with goals from Luc Castaignos and Gianpaolo Pazzini.
