Sterling scores on Manchester City debut

Roma forward Adem Ljajic curled in a sumptuous free kick three minutes from full-time after being brought down just outside the area to take the match into the shootout.

“You have to move on”. “He has some physical problem from his holidays so I think it’s better for him to stay in Manchester and not lose the time coming back”.

Although the Giallorossi played deeper than their opponents, both Roma and Manchester City kept creating chances of their own.

Iheanacho restored the lead for City six minutes into the second half when he swooped on a wayward Roma back pass by second-half substitute Ashley Cole and sent the ball into the top right of the net from the center of the box.

“He demonstrated why he’s here”. He demonstrated why he’s here, not only his value as a player, he’s a very young player so I think he will improve a lot in the future, playing with Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero. “I’m very happy for our team to buy him”.

Sterling was the subject of negativity from the stands as he scored on his City debut in a pre-season game against Roma in Australia, even though he scored just over two minutes into his first game in a sky blue shirt. We have very technical players. He has the speed that we don’t have in the team so it will be a different way of playing.

Roma, who had beaten Real Madrid 7-6 on penalties in their opening match, equalised soon afterwards, with Miralem Pjanic unleashing a drive to beat Willy Caballero from 25 yards.

Man City won 5-4 on penalties.

Aleksandar Kolarov missed for City but goalkeeper Joe Hart came to the rescue, saving from Seydou Doumbia and Seydou Keita and impressively smashing one in himself.

If there was any weight on Sterling’s shoulders following his high profile move, his early contribution will have lifted it, and he continued to torment the Roma defence with his pace and movement throughout his 45-minute involvement. “Keep it up”, the Italian ex-City player wrote.

Unsurprisingly, Balotelli received a torrent of criticism from Liverpool fans, who were unhappy with the striker’s post on the social media site.

– Mario Balotelli (@FinallyMario) July 21, 2015…support him Like you always did. He gave everything to this club and respect it so i’m sad to see this.