Villarreal 0-3 Manchester City: Yellow Submarine sunk by a Tourepedo

David Silva does like to be beside the seaside.

Last month, down the coast at Alicante, he helped Spain tear Scotland apart, scoring two goals in his finest display for his country.

And last night on the shores of the Mediterranean, he was at it again as the man the Manchester City players call Merlin weaved his magic again.

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He took while to get going in what was his first club match back in Spain since leaving Valencia 16 months go, but once he did, there was no stopping him.

Silva made City’s first goal, intercepting the ball and setting up Yaya Toure to make the all-important breakthrough in the first half.

He then danced and jinked his way around the pitch, passing the ball and making his little runs.

Roberto Mancini, mindful that tougher challenges lie ahead, took him off just after the hour mark to keep him fresh.

It says it all about his performance that some of the Villarreal players shook his hand as he walked off.

La Liga must rue letting Silva go and for all the stars they have at Barcelona and Real Madrid, few shine as brightly at the moment as the little man from the Canary Islands.

Yaya Toure also enjoyed his return to Spain and the former Barca star bagged his first two goals of the season to put City within touching distance of a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.

They will go through if they win at Napoli in three weeks’ time and what a game that promises to be for Mancini as he returns to his homeland.

City took a while to settle last night, but once they did, there was no stopping them as they cruised past Villarreal’s injury-ravaged side to record their first win in Spain.

Even though Roberto Mancini started without Edin Dzeko, Adam Johnson and Sergio Aguero, City still had too much quality for Villarreal and their class eventually told on the half-hour mark.

Silva intercepted Mario Gaspar’s poor pass, fed Toure and the midfielder glided inside Villarreal skipper Gonzalo Rodriguez before coolly passing the ball into the bottom far corner with his right foot from 15 yards out.

Villarreal’s resistance amounted to a left-foot drive from Hernan Perez, which Joe Hart comfortably dealt with, diving to his left.

And in the third minute of first-half stoppage time, the Blues doubled their lead when Mateo Musacchio stupidly conceded a penalty.

After Mario Balotelli had nutmegged Jose Catala to burst into the box, Musacchio pushed him in the back as he chased him, even though Gonzalo Rodriguez had come across to make a covering tackle.

The hot-headed Balotelli showed ice-cool nerves and despite some muppet shining a laser pen on the ball, he did a John Aldridge as he halted his run to send Diego Lopez the wrong way before stroking it home.

Those goals cheered Mancini as he looked for an ice pack at half-time to nurse his injured head after he had banged it off his low dug-out.

He knew the three points were his and the second half was like a training match as City went through the motions.

Villarreal were a beaten side and former Baggie Borja Valero hit a weak shot at Hart in a sign of their crumbling resistance.

City made it 3-0 on 71 minutes when they sliced Villarreal open like one of the juicy Valencian oranges, which currently laden the trees in this beautiful part of Spain.

Nasri fed Balotelli on the left and he played the ball inside for Toure to beat Carlos Marchena and stroke home his second goal of the night and of the season.

Toure came off to be replaced by Sergio Aguero and after Silva had been applauded, the former Atletico Madrid star was booed and jeered.

Villarreal are still angry with him for allegedly taunting them at the Etihad a fortnight ago after scoring his last-gasp winner.

But as they say about sticks and stones, he didn’t seem to care.

Nor did City and after a hesitant start, their Champions League is up and running.