A BIRTH-DAY SURPRISE
even be pushing former England skipper Shearer for that No.2 spot.
I don’t say that lightly because Shearer’s goal tally – 260 – is immense.
But the longevity Aguero has shown in a squad that is constantly being reinvented, at a club which has incredible resources, is a testament to his ability and his hunger.
When former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola arrived at the Etihad it seemed clear that Aguero’s days were numbered.
Guardiola said all the right things but the suspicion was that it was all just code for, ‘He’s on his way’.
Yet Aguero never gave up. He took every opportunity offered to him and ultimately forced his manager to keep going back to him. Now once again he is the first-choice striker for a team favourites to win the title.
If you go back to 2012 and the titlewinning ‘Agueroooo’ goal, he proved then that there is no pressure on a football field he can’t handle.
As good as Higuain is – and he will go down as one of the best in Europe of the last five or six years – I’m still not sure he has scored the key goals that Aguero has scored.
He might get goals number three, four and five in a 5-0 win but with Aguero it’s the only goal in a 1-0 win.
His are the goals that make the difference.
If I had to put my last penny on one of them to score it would be Aguero (above) and I’m certain he’ll come out on top against his compatriot this afternoon.
The story about the twin daughters of Newport keeper Joe Day (below and left) arriving as he helped his side to FA Cup glory was a lovely one. But I hope he doesn’t come to regret not being there for their birth, as I regret missing the birth of my son Tom.
I’d been called up to play for England in 1996 and wasn’t allowed to attend, and the first I knew of his arrival was a call from his gran on a pay phone at the team hotel.
We live in more enlightened times now. People realise there are things more important than football. Back then, asking a manager if you could attend the birth of a child was like asking if he’d mind you bedding his wife.