City’s superstar shrugs off miss and responds with
REF: ATT: HE was a couple of yards out, no more, in glorious isolation, left only with a formality to complete.
And one of the finest strikers in Premier League history, a record-breaker, a natural born goalscorer, a king of the close-range finish, missed.
He did not just miss, he casually tapped Bernardo Silva’s invitation into the wrong face of the side-netting.
Pep Guardiola, looking for the quick insurance of a second goal after Raheem Sterling’s thumping opener, collapsed theatrically to the technical area deck. As he does.
Less than an hour later, Sergio Aguero was walking from the field, with another standing ovation, another hat-trick in his collection and Guardiola’s smile sending him to his seat.
You don’t think an embarrassing sitter-miss is going to affect arguably the greatest player in a club’s history, do you?
You can make arguments for others to hold that title, but few have as compelling a case as the man who now has 11 hat-tricks in the Premier League and 15 for Manchester City in all competitions.
His scoring rate in terms of minutes-per-goal is outstanding and he is a scorer of important goals, a scorer of goals against the best, against the elite.
Not that Chelsea were anything like the best, not that they were anything like the elite. They were atrocious.
But better to dwell on City’s magnificence. Look around the Etihad Stadium on any given match day and you will see a blue smattering of empty seats.
It is something of a mystery. And if you find yourself at a loose end and it is not too inconvenient or too pricey, get yourself a ticket some time.
Go and see the unplayable Sterling showing the sort of improved finishing that bookended this battering, firstly after Kevin De Bruyne’s quickthinking free-kick had allowed Bernardo Silva to assist and lastly after David Silva’s dreamy pass started a move which ended with another precise close-in conversion. Treat yourself
relentless,
MATCH STATS
to the tireless