The Argentine was at his exciting best, scoring once and setting up the other two as Roberto Mancini's side romped to a convincing victory.

City picked a strong side to face the Malaysian select XI - who narrowly lost to Arsenal last week - with Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez, Adam Johnson and Aguero all starting on the pitch.

They could have been a man down within two minutes though after City's Romanian goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon handled the ball out of his area.

The referee showed lenience, given the non-competitive nature of the match, and Pantilimon made an impressive save from the resultant free-kick.

Aguero's opener, scored after just 18 minutes, was delightful as he cut in from the left, skipped past three defenders and then dinked the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper with the outside of his right boot.

City could have won a penalty when Aleksandar Kolarov went down in the penalty area but their protests were waived away as the English side took a 1-0 lead into the half-time break.

Mancini's men came out firing as the Italian resisted the urge to change things, with Tevez charging onto an Aguero through-ball and smashing a first-time shot into the back of the net on 48 minutes.

And just five minutes later City extended their lead when Aguero found Johnson with a pinpoint cross.

The midfielder chested down before spinning sharply to shoot low across the goalkeeper with an impressive strike.

The final 30 minutes saw a raft of changes, with youngsters George Evans, Luca Scapuzzi and Marcos Lopes all introduced off the bench for City.

Adamuddin Akil bagged a late consolation for the Malaysian side with three minutes left but the Premier League champions would have been pleased with an impressive display.

In other friendly action on Monday, Bundesliga side Nurenberg thumped Sivasspor of Turkey 5-0.