ON TARGET: Mario Balotelli
Mario Balotelli put City ahead on the stroke of half-time with a bullet header.
After the break Edin Dzeko - who had already had one effort controversially ruled out for offside - slotted the second before Adam Johnson scored the third after some fine work by Shaun Wright-Phillips.
City will now turn their focus to next Sunday's Community Shield clash with Manchester United.
Glimpse of future
Blues fans were treated to a brief glimpse into the future in this game.
It was a future in which Carlos Tevez had got his way and escaped Manchester, but it was also one where humbling Europe’s elite is the norm and not just a pre-season highlight.
And if this is what the future holds, then it can’t come soon enough.
After fielding a second string against an Airtricity League XI on Saturday, former Inter boss Roberto Mancini recalled the big guns as he finalised his plans for the small matter of another Wembley date with United on Sunday.
The game came too soon for Sergio Aguero, who last played in the Copa America 15 days ago, Gael Clichy wasn’t risked after picking up a slight knock and Tevez won’t be back at Carrington until Thursday – if at all.
But apart from that trio, the team picked to start at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium won’t be a million miles away from the one that walks out at Wembley in a week’s time.
And if the performance is in any way similar, the Dublin Super Cup won’t be the only silverware City pick up before the Premier League kick-off.
It was by no means a weak Inter team. Julio Cesar, Christian Chivu, Dejan Stankovic, Goran Pandev, Wesley Sneijder and Samuel Eto’o – the core of the side that finished second in Serie A last season – were all present and correct.
The Blues, however, were too strong, too quick and too well organised.
City could have been 2-0 up inside the first 20 minutes but on both occasions the linesman raised his flag to bring a premature end to the Poznan celebration.
And for all Edin Dzeko’s bustle and David Silva’s brilliance, the goal, when it came, was as simple as it was deserved.
It might have come sooner had Cesar not pulled off a wonderful save to stop Mario Balotelli’s fierce effort finding the top corner. But from the resulting corner Aleksander Kolarov swung the ball into the box and Balotelli rose highest to thump his header past his old team mate.
It was scant reward for a first half in which City had seven shots on target but it took just one in the second half to double the lead.
Silva, deliberate and dazzling throughout his 80 minutes, slid a simply wonderful pass through Inter’s static back four to allow Dzeko a simple finish. It was a timely reminder from the big Bosnian that Mancini doesn’t necessarily have to look elsewhere if he is forced to replace Tevez’s goals.
Johnson then tapped home the third in stoppage time after Shaun Wright-Phillips had done all the hard work.
City could yet meet Inter when the draw for the Champions League group stage is made in Monaco on August 25. If that strange twist of fate does occur, the three-time winners of Europe’s premier cup competition – and the last team to knock out standard-bearers Barcelona - won’t send shudders through the City dressing room.
In the match programme, Yaya Toure challenged City to match the standard set by his former employers during the club’s first season in the Champions League.
“We obviously have a way to go to match those teams but it is our aim,” he said. “But with the ambition the club have shown and the way we are improving as a group, I think other clubs are now starting to take notice of the new Manchester City.”
On this evidence, the day Europe’s heavy hitters are forced to sit up and take notice of the new team sat at the top table will come sooner rather than later.
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