AND IT’S NOW AGUER-OH NO!
City striker who fired them to title glory in 2012 fluffs his audacious penalty attempt and sees Chelsea spoil party
NINE years ago, Sergio Aguero scored one of the most famous title-winning goals in English football history. It was the Aguerooooo moment.
He had the chance to do it again yesterday evening when he stood over the penalty that might have sealed Manchester City’s third title in four years. This time, though, it went horribly wrong. It was his Aguero-Oh No moment.
Aguero is fast approaching the end of his brilliant career at City but his penalty attempt will not form an auspicious part of its last chapter.
With City leading 1- 0 and half time imminent, he tried to trick the Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy by committing him to a dive and floating a Panenka penalty over his prone form. The only problem — Mendy was not fooled by it.
Mendy managed to check his dive and stand up, pat the ball down casually with his left hand and gather it safely.
When Aguero had scored that goal against QPR at the other end of this stadium in 2012, it was met with bedlam. This time, there was just an embarrassed silence in the empty ground. Aguero put his head down and turned away.
City conceded an equaliser from Hakim Ziyech midway through the second half and then fell to a last-gasp winner from Marcos Alonso that condemned them to a 2-1 defeat and meant City could not add to their 13- point lead over Manchester United and seal the title.
Their defeat and Aguero’s faux-pas will not cost them their title but it may carry significance in their pursuit of a greater glory.
This, after all, was a rehearsal for the Champions League Final between these two teams on May 29 and whether it is played in Istanbul, London or Timbuktu, Chelsea will now go into it with a psychological advantage.
Thomas Tuchel’s side beat City in an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley three weeks ago and now they have beaten them again and in a way that may have demoralised Pep Guardiola’s team.
The manager had made nine changes to the team that beat Paris Saint-Germain in midweek so, while we should not read too much into this result, it has set a pattern.
Hundreds of City supporters had gathered on the Ashton New Road outside the stadium before the match with flares that belched out blue smoke, happily anticipating winning the title a few hours later.
Instead, if United can win the three games c r a mmed i nt o t hei r hecti c schedule over the next five days against Aston Villa, Leicester and Liverpool, City will have to wait for another shot at being crowned champions in their away game with Newcastle United on Friday evening.
It was a hugely important win for Chelsea in the context of the League, too. It moved them above Leicester into third place and put them in a commanding position to qualify for the Champions League next season, should they not triumph against City later this month. Chelsea struggled to find any rhythm for much of an ordinary first half. They had outplayed City when they beat them at Wembley last month but there was little evidence they would repeat that feat in the opening 45 minutes. Mason Mount has become increasingly important to them and he was not even on the bench. They missed him.
Tuchel keeps playing Timo Werner in the hope that he will eventually play himself into goalscoring form and the Germany striker often plays like a man on the verge of rediscovering the ruthlessness in front of goal that encouraged Chelsea to buy him.
But however much he promises, he has not yet delivered consistently enough and he struggled again against City.
City have their Werner equivalent: the form of Raheem Sterling is providing a fascinating sub-plot in the midst o f City’s triumphs. He has slipped out of Guardiola’s first choice XI and is clearly struggling for confidence but both at Crystal Palace last week and again against Chelsea, he refused to hide or stop demanding the ball. His courage in that respect is to be admired but unless things change, he is probably an outside bet to start in the final. He struggled to find his rhythm against Tuchel’s team and his frustration soon began to get the better of him.
When Sterling was dispossessed by N’Golo Kante deep in City’s half in the 13th minute, he tried to retrieve the ball but lunged in on Werner on the edge of the City box. Werner fell to the turf in a heap and referee Anthony Taylor showed Sterling a yellow card. He was fortunate it was not red.
Two minutes before half time, Sterling got the reward for his persistence and his willingness to keep putting himself in the line of fire.
Gabriel Jesus chased a long ball from Ruben Dias down the right and when Andreas Christensen ran across to intercept it, he misjudged its flight, failed to clear, fell awkwardly, injured himself and allowed Jesus through on goal.
Jesus looked up and squared the ball to Aguero who was unmarked in the middle but the Argentine miscontrolled the ball and for a split- second it seemed the chance had gone. But as i t roll ed away, Sterling appeared at Aguero’s shoulder and rammed the ball l past Mendy. His celebrations were ea a mixture of relief and joy.
Three minutes into added time at the end of the first half, City should have doubled their lead. Jesus was brought down in the area by Billy Gilmour and Aguero fluffed his penalty. Mendy spotted the trick just as he began to dive to his right, checked himself and d stood up.
The ball looped towards him m in a lovely, lazy arc and Mendy simply raised his left hand and batted it down casually before gathering it.
If it was an embarrassing moment for Aguero, on the touchline, Guardiola turned away in disgust, gesturing dismissively with his arm.
City should have gone in at half time with all the momentum but the manner of Aguero’s miss compromised that. He did reappear for the second half but his heart must have sunk midway through it when Chelsea equalised and suddenly the magnitude of his error grew.
Once again, City were authors of their own downfall. Rodri lost the ball to Ziyech midway inside the City half and it was worked to Cesar Azpilicueta on the right. Azpilicueta drilled the ball across the face of the box to Ziyech, who took a touch and rifled a low shot past Ederson from
20 yards. Aguero did not get the chance to atone for his Panenka. He was substituted for Phil Foden 20 minutes from the end of the match and walked off the pitch behind ~the goal.
He trudged back to the stands and was greeted with a round of sympathetic applause by City’s other substitutes and backroom staff. It is unlikely it assuaged his guilt.
Three minutes from the end, there was a last burst of controversy. Substitute Kurt
Zouma tried to intercept a through ball but missed it under pressure from Sterling. The forward bore down on goal with the Chelsea defender climbing all over him and when Sterling fell in the box, it seemed certain Taylor would award a penalty. To the lasting fury of Guardiola and the vocal dismay of the City substitutes, Taylor waved play on.
City felt the full force of that decision two minutes into time added on. Werner escaped down the right and crossed into the box. Callum Hudson-Odoi and Marcos Alonso both took a swing at it but Alonso got to it first and mishit his shot over Ederson for the winner.
And so Aguero will have time to repent at leisure. The figure 93:20 is the most famous number in the club’s history. His penalty miss against Chelsea was 45+3. Not that they will be printing that on any merchandise.