City down Schalke to seize UEFA Cup initiative

Big-spending English Premier League side Manchester City took charge of UEFA Cup Group A with an assured 2-0 victory over Germany’s Schalke 04 here on Thursday.

The win followed their opening 3-2 victory against FC Twente and gave Mark Hughes’s men maximum points from their first two matches.

The home side threatened first when Germany midfielder Jermaine Jones forced goalkeeper Joe Hart to tip his shot around the post.

Micah Richards was then called into action to clear a goalbound effort from Schalke striker Kevin Kuranyi after Hart had misjudged a cross from the right.

Shortly after the half-hour mark City took the lead when Daniel Sturridge’s cross-cum-shot was sidefooted home at the far post by Zimbabwean striker Benjani Mwaruwari.

Summer signing Shaun Wright-Phillips almost extended the visitors’ lead with a stinging drive on 55 minutes that drew a full-stretch save from Schalke shot-stopper Manuel Neuer.

But 10 minutes later it was 2-0, with in-form midfielder Stephen Ireland coolly tucking the ball underneath the on-rushing Neuer after Benjani sent the ball spinning into the air in a challenge on the edge of the Schalke penalty area.

Hart produced a stunning reflex save to keep out substitute Gerald Asamoah’s close-range header with 15 minutes remaining, but it was the closest that Fred Rutten’s side came to breaking the deadlock.