City eases into last 16 of Europa League

Edin Dzeko's first-half double helped Manchester City to a 3-0 win over Aris, easing the big-spending English club into the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday.

The January transfer-window signing from Wolfsburg scored in the seventh and 12th minutes of the last-32 second leg to put City 2-0 up on aggregate.

Ivory Coast midfielder Yaya Toure added the third after the break to complete a comfortable home victory.

City, one of the favorites to win Europe's second-tier competition this season, will play Ukrainian giant Dynamo Kiev in the second knockout round.

''I am very happy, it's the first time I have scored two goals in one game for Manchester City,'' said Dzeko, who has netted four in total for his new club.

''We scored two goals in the first (12) minutes. That was important for the game.''

City had around 100 million pounds ($161 million) of attacking talent on show at Eastlands, with Dzeko selected alongside Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli in an exciting three-pronged forward line.

''It was the first time they have played a game together - in the first half (it worked) very well,'' City manager Roberto Mancini said.

The trio had too much movement for the Aris defense, although a basic mistake by center back Nikolaos Lazaridis contributed to Dzeko's opener.

Lazaridis' miscontrol 40 meters away from his own goal was pounced on by the Bosnia striker, who ran through before drilling a low, angled finish into the far corner.

Dzeko's second came when he collected a pass from Tevez, cut inside and curled a low shot into the corner from just inside the area.

Dzeko was denied a hat trick when he ran onto a slick throughball by David Silva but was foiled by goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis as he attempted to dribble the ball into the net.

Balotelli struck a shot against the post early in the second half but Toure wrapped up the victory in the 76th with a 25-meter drive that took a slight deflection into the bottom corner.

The only negative on the night for City was an injury to center back Vincent Kompany, who came off in the first half with a hip complaint.