Manchester City's 3-1 victory over Manchester United gave yet another reminder of the gulf in class between the two teams right now.

David Silva set the hosts on their way in the 12th minute before Sergio Aguero looked to have wrapped things up early into the second half.

The introduction of Romelu Lukaku made things interesting for a time, the Belgian winning a penalty at Ederson's expense. Anthony Martial scored the resulting spot-kick.

All Pep Guardiola's side had to do was close the game out, but with 86 minutes on the clock, they concocted an exquisite 44-pass move finished by Ilkay Gundogan.

Tellingly, the Red Devils had just one shot on target - the penalty - and can therefore have very little complaints about the result.

If Jose Mourinho thought he had turned a corner with three consecutive wins against Everton, Bournemouth, and Juventus, then this result ought to have sent the Portuguese hurtling back down to earth.

United sit eighth in the table having already lost four league games, more than the rest of the top four put together.

And, as electric as City were, their eccentric former striker Mario Balotelli couldn't help but laugh at their rivals' struggles this season.

Balotelli couldn't resist 

The Italian commented on City's Instagram post of Aguero:

"Once a blue always a blue!!! Man Utd LOL AGAIN AND AGAIN!"

It's fair to say we would expect nothing less.

The 28-year-old had a turbulent time in English football, particularly during his spell at Liverpool, but he will always be remembered fondly at the Etihad for his role in United's 6-1 drubbing back in 2011, and of course for winning the Premier League a year later.

In truth, he should have had more pressing matters to be dealing with than mocking Mourinho's side.

Things aren't going well for him 

Despite Nice beating Nimes 1-0 on Saturday, his current manager Patrick Vieira described him as "less than average" having hauled him off and sparked an angry reaction from the forward in the process.

"We didn't put enough pressure on our opponent," he said, per the Sun.

"Just like Mario Balotelli, we were less than average."

Ouch. Balotelli is yet to score or provide an assist this season after initially impressing in Ligue 1.

It's probably best he focuses on football for now.