China Daily

Guardiola wants Aguero to get even better after victory

- By AGENCE FRANCEPRES­SE in Swansea

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has vowed to make Sergio Aguero an even better player.

The Argentine striker scored two goals on his return to City colors as the visitor made it 10 straight wins in league and cup soccer this season with a 3-1 victory away to Swansea on Saturday.

Having missed the previous three games due to suspension, Aguero took only eight minutes to give City the lead.

Fernando Llorente levelled five minutes later, but Aguero’s penalty in the 65th minute, and a third from Raheem Sterling, 13 minutes from time, made the game safe. It’s now six straight Premier League wins for Guardiola.

The Spaniard was happy with the win, but still wants more from his players, including Aguero, who has now scored 11 times in six games so far this season.

Guardiola said: “I want to congratula­te him on his performanc­e, especially for the first goal.

“I am so happy for him. But I think he can play better and I will try to tell him. He has great ability and in the box, there is nothing I can do to help him. But maybe I can help him develop, like keeping the ball and helping the second goal against Swansea. rest of the team.”

Swansea, beaten by Guardiola’s men in the League Cup in midweek, certainly gave City a tougher test than their lowly league position suggested was possible.

Guardiola added: “I was not surprised by Swansea. It is not easy to play twice a week with the same team, so both teams changed.

“But they have good players and the goal they scored was very good,” the Spaniard added. “But I thought we did well with the ball.

“We were able to attack behind the midfield line and that was what I wanted. We played really well in the second half and we created some good chances. I think we deserved to win.

“It was an important win and now we have two games before the break.”

The only setback for City was the sight of Kevin de Bruyne limping off in the second half.

Guardiola said: “Kevin is injured, I think. It is a pity. From the way he reacted, it looked like a muscle injury.

“We will have to wait and seewhenweg­etbacktoMa­nchester. He will be going in to see the doctor on Sunday.”

The pressure is certainly mounting on Swansea boss Francesco Guidolin, for whom this was the fourth league defeat of the season.

“The performanc­e was good in my opinion. Manchester City is the best team in the Premier League, but I thought my team played at the same level as them,” Guidolin said.

“I am proud of my players, but of course, I am disappoint­ed with the result.

“Before the penalty we had a good chance to score and I thought we deserved to score.”

 ?? ANDREW COULDRIDGE / REUTERS ?? Manchester City's Sergio Aguero celebrates scoring his side’s
ANDREW COULDRIDGE / REUTERS Manchester City's Sergio Aguero celebrates scoring his side’s

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