The controversial striker produced one of his best performances for City by providing the inspiration for a comfortable 4-1 win over Aston Villa which took them top of the Barclays Premier League yesterday.

After a number of run-ins with manager Roberto Mancini, it was a timely contribution from the 21-year-old ahead of the resumption of City's stuttering Champions League campaign in midweek.

City dominated headlines throughout the recent international break as controversy surrounding Carlos Tevez continued to unfold.

Balotelli, whose opening goal against Villa was his fourth in four games, took the heat out of that situation with an-all action performance which included some confident interaction with away fans at the Etihad Stadium.

City can now look forward to Tuesday's crunch clash with Villarreal and the eagerly-anticipated derby with Manchester United five days later with renewed vigour.

With Tevez now an apparent outcast as disciplinary proceedings continue, midfielder Nigel de Jong believes Balotelli is beginning to realise his responsibilities as a City player.

The Dutchman told City TV: "I think he is getting it now, why we always try to teach him a lesson. He is getting it slowly but surely.

"You have to give him credit for the last couple of weeks, not just on the pitch but in the training sessions.

"He is behaving quite normal for him. Everyone is happy to be with him.

"Nobody ever doubted his qualities but with great qualities you need to have big responsibilities as well - not only on the pitch but outside as well.

"I think he showed that to the group and Manchester City as well in the last couple of weeks."

Balotelli took advantage of Mancini's decision to leave Edin Dzeko, David Silva and Samir Nasri on the bench and not to risk Sergio Aguero after injury as he provided much of City's attacking thrust.

After testing Shay Given, he gave City the lead with a sharp overhead kick and continued to bother previously unbeaten Villa throughout, bringing another fine save from the keeper in the second half.

On the downside there were occasional displays of frustration and an apparent collision with Given, but the biggest disappointment for City is that he is suspended for the Villarreal encounter.

After beginning their European programme with a draw against Napoli and that infamous 2-0 loss at Bayern Munich in which Tevez allegedly refused to play, City need to beat the Spaniards to kickstart their campaign.

De Jong added: "They are two massive games (this week). The Champions League is the first one and it is obvious we have to win that game to proceed to the next stage.

"After that is the United game, which will be a massive game, number one and number two against each other.

"We just have to prepare ourselves very well and focus again now."

After leading just 1-0 at half-time, City powered further ahead through Adam Johnson and Vincent Kompany. Stephen Warnock pulled one back but former Villa midfielder James Milner finished the visitors off with a sublime fourth goal.

Defeat was a reality check for Villa, who had begun the season confidently with two wins and five draws in seven league games, but manager Alex McLeish saw many positives.

McLeish said: "We're a team in transition, a squad in transition.

"We have a lot of young players and it is a learning curve.

"I'm disappointed we're not coming away with something and if we'd defended better at corner kicks I believe we could have.

"At 3-1 we were still in it and the next goal was very important, but we lost it and that was the only time in the game that the energy drained from the players.

"They gave everything and worked hard. We were bold in our approach, we tried to get Gabby [Gabriel Agbonlahor] and Benty [Darren Bent] into the last third and it worked for a while.

"But, if you lose goals like that, you can forget it. We'll be on the training ground this week trying to put that right.

"Teams will be saying, 'City cut Villa to ribbons' but they didn't and, when they see the goals, they'll see horrendous defending."