Having snatched a last-minute winner over the ‘Yellow Submarine’ at the Etihad, City’s away performance was much more routine as they took their tally to seven points and moved up to second in Group A.
Despite hauling themselves into contention by those back-to-back wins, City’s Champions League chances were all but extinguished later in the month when their trip to Napoli ended in defeat.
The Blues travelled to Italy after nine straight wins but were unable to continue their fantastic form in Naples as an Edinson Cavani double virtually ended Champions League hopes.
On the domestic front, City extended their unbeaten run to 16 by taking seven points from nine against QPR, Newcastle and Liverpool
The trip to Loftus Road saw Shaun Wright-Phillips face City for the first time since leaving the Etihad in August. Mancini’s men had to come from behind to win 3-2, before bringing an end to Newcastle’s own unbeaten league record with a 3-1 home victory.
A 1-1 draw at Anfield ended in Mario Balotelli being dismissed for two yellow cards, but there was better news for another striker when Sergio Aguero was nominated for the coveted Ballon d’Or award.
His goal was enough to see off Arsenal in the fifth round of the Carling Cup as the Blues claimed their first away win over the Gunners since 1975.
In doing so, the club reached the competition’s final four and set up a mouth-watering semi-final with Liverpool that would be played over two legs to decide which side would travel to Wembley in February.
Pablo Zabaleta and Adam Johnson committed their futures to the club by signing new long-term deals while Gareth Barry celebrated success on the international stage by scoring England’s 2000th goal.
Though question marks arose as to whether the deflected effort against Sweden would go down as a Daniel Majstorovic own goal, the City midfielder was eventually awarded the historic milestone.
