Jack Grealish avoids Mario Balotelli derby woe with Samir Nasri impression for Man City

Mario Balotelli has an indelible association with the Manchester derby.

From goading Rio Ferdinand at Wembley after the 2011 FA Cup semi-final to the bathroom fireworks display, T-shirt and goals of the 6-1, Manchester City fans think fondly of Mario every time the famous fixture comes around.

But his final involvement against Manchester United was one to forget. Balotelli’s form and father/delinquent son relationship with Roberto Mancini was only heading in one direction by December 2012.

Mancini still had one more show of faith in his magnificent and maddening protege, benching Carlos Tevez and Edin Dzeko to start him alongside Sergio Aguero.

Balotelli was hopeless and his manager angrily substituted him after a backheel to no one in particular, with City 2-0 down in a game they would lose 3-2. The following month he was packed off to AC Milan.

Jack Grealish’s situation under Pep Guardiola is far calmer and infinitely more functional. But there was an echo of Mancini’s call of almost a decade ago when Guardiola plumped for his much-discussed, maverick talent for a must-win derby.

It was easy to imagine the headlines if City slipped up and Grealish was part of the general malaise, alongside the reactions of Simon Jordan and any of the other usual critics.

But this was a performance that made good on Guardiola’s repeated claims that his record signing is playing well and doing exactly what he asks of him.

The main Balotelli parallel, in the end, was the surplus of swagger in everything Grealish did. It was there in his sumptuous midweek goal against Peterborough United in the FA Cup and he brought it to the biggest stage against City’s bitter rivals.

An early dribble down United’s porous right-flank led to the opening