Craig Bellamy's goal proved the difference as his current club Manchester City beat Celtic, one of his old ones, at Eastlands.

After sanctioning a near-£100million summer spending spree, Blues chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak was on hand to watch Mark Hughes' men record the victory that will send them to Blackburn for next Saturday's Premier League opener believing they can start to match the hype that has grown around them.

With Carlos Tevez making his debut as a second-half substitute to partner Emmanuel Adebayor in attack, Hughes' new-look side is beginning to take shape, even though Kolo Toure lasted only 18 minutes before signalling he could not continue.

The former Arsenal man's exit affected City's rhythm if, ultimately, not the result, Bellamy scoring five minutes after the restart once Chris Killen had levelled Gareth Barry's fine effort before half-time.

Given the huge amount of change that has taken place at Eastlands in the past 12 months, one of the aspects it was believed had been shed was the inconsistency which has dogged City throughout the years.

At the start, City were excellent. Solid defending, swift passing, excellent work off the ball. When Gareth Barry arrived with perfect timing to steer home Pablo Zabaleta's cross after 15 minutes it seemed all would be well with the world.

Instead, a crack appeared immediately.

Toure, along with Barry the only two of Hughes' six new faces to start against a Celtic side with only one survivor from the team that performed so admirably to secure a Champions League clash with Arsenal by beating Dinamo Moscow on Wednesday, came to the sidelines to explain he was experiencing discomfort.

A few minutes later Toure was bowing out altogether, replaced by Tal Ben Haim.

Given the Israeli appears to have little future under Hughes, it is no wonder the Welshman has been trying to lure Joleon Lescott from Everton.

As David Moyes has shown no willingness to let Lescott leave Goodison Park, Hughes may have to turn his attentions elsewhere with some speed if Toure's problem proves to be significant.

The City boss will certainly hope the lacklustre reaction to Toure's departure is not a sign of things to come.

Giorgios Samaras was dubbed "a rough diamond" when he was brought to City from Heerenveen for £5.5million by Stuart Pearce three-and-half years ago.

It has taken some pretty stiff polishing and a change of clubs to bring about the first sparkle. But, after the Greek's momentous injury-time effort in midweek, he responded to his inclusion from the start by Tony Mowbray with an exquisite pass to Killen.

The one-time City trainee went speeding past Richard Dunne before lashing a fine shot beyond Shay Given.

As Given had only just tipped a Darren O'Dea effort over the bar it hardly came against the run of play and from that point until the break, there was very little finesse from home ranks.

Robinho did fire one long-range effort wide but he was also bundled off the ball by another former Blues graduate Willo Flood, who is hardly a giant.

The lack of height in City's front-line seemed like an obvious flaw and was duly rectified by Hughes when he introduced Adebayor, sacrificing one of his two holding midfield players in Nigel de Jong.

While Adebayor was not directly involved in City's second goal five minutes after the restart, his presence had provided Celtic's defence with a problem, which allowed an old boy who had made the switch from north to south rather than the other way round to fire home, Bellamy gleefully finishing off Wayne Bridge's long ball.

Quarter of an hour later, Bellamy gave way to Tevez, who is destined to become a City hero.

The raucous reception turned out to be the remaining high point as the contest meandered to its conclusion.