Man City 3 - 1 Lech Poznan

Adebayor's three goals were his first of the season

By Phil Dawkes

Emmanuel Adebayor became the first Manchester City player to score a hat-trick in Europe in a win that puts them top of Europa League Group A.
Adebayor opened the scoring with a superb turn and finish from the edge of the area early in the first half.
The striker doubled the lead soon after with a header from David Silva's cross.
Joel Tshimbamba scored from close range to make it 2-1 but Adebayor neatly finished another Silva cross to end the Polish side's spirited challenge.
The result leaves City with seven points from three group stage games, three points clear of Lech.
Amidst all the talk this week of whether Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney might join City, it was one of Roberto Mancini's existing forwards who stole the show against Lech.
Emmanuel Adebayor has been largely over-shadowed by seven-goal top-scorer Carlos Tevez this season, but with the Argentine resting on the bench, the Togolese front-man stepped up to open his account for the campaign in emphatic fashion.
His first came in the 13th minute when he collected a pass from Patrick Vieira on the edge of the box and superbly turned his marker before side-footing expertly into the far corner of the net.
He doubled his and City's tally 12 minutes later, rising to direct a header from a Silva right-wing cross into the same right-hand corner of Lech keeper Jasmin Buric's net.
He would surely have made it a first-half hat-trick five minutes before the break had Dimitrije Injac not cut out Adam Johnson's left-wing cross with a last-gasp headed clearance.
The two goals may not have silenced the large and lively away support within Eastlands but they noticeably disheartened the Lech players, who had begun brightly but faded towards the end of the half.

606: DEBATE
Silva is class. And it seems as if his teamates are starting to understand his game
neverbeentoanfield
The game could have been very different had Slawomir Peszko not flashed a third-minute effort from 20 yards past the far post, but their shooting increased in distance and decreased in accuracy as the first 45 minutes wore on.
However, the visitors came out with renewed purpose in the second half and were rewarded five minutes in.
Peszko's initial tumble in the box failed to earn a penalty, but Pablo Zabaleta's inability to clear saw the ball fall to Tshibamba who lashed in from close range.
Now sensing the chance to gain something from the match, Lech continued to hustle the home side, causing some nervy moments in the City defence.
But Mancini's side retained a sharper edge in their build-up play and in playmaker Silva they possessed the game's class act.
The Spaniard almost restored his side's two-goal advantage shortly after they had seen it halved when he danced through a series of Lech challenges to fashion a shooting chance but his effort was deflected wide.
Moments later it really should have been 3-1, when Johnson's cross found Adebayor unmarked in the box but a dreadful first touch allowed the Lech defence to close him down and deflect the shot wide.
Lech spurned a chance to go level when a miscued long-range Bartosz Bosacki shot fell to Tshibamba in the box but he was unable to replicate the accuracy of his earlier effort and missed the target.
The Poles were left to rue the miss as City extended their lead in the following attack when Silva's inch-perfect cross from the right gave Adebayor the simple task of side-footing home first time from eight yards to break new ground for City with his hat-trick.
Only the corner of the goal frame denied Johnson making it four after he had danced between two challenges and unleashed a curling left-foot shot, but the game was already won.
City could have made the last few minutes tricky for themselves after an error by Kolo Toure gifted possession to Tshibamba but the striker was unable to direct his shot goalwards.





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