THIS IS OUR CUP FINAL, SAYS PEP
Guardiola banking on Aguero to make up for Nou Camp misery
AFTER a strange couple of weeks for both men, Pep Guardiola and Sergio Aguero followed Saturday’s victory at West Bromwich with a hug in the centre circle.
What would bring Manchester City’s manager and star striker even closer together would be a match-winning performance from Aguero against Barcelona tonight.
Another setback against his old club at the Etihad Stadium will jeopardise City’s Champions League participation. That would be embarrassing, hence Guardiola’s description of this meeting as a ‘cup final’.
For Aguero, on the other hand, there are points still to be proved.
Left out at the Nou Camp two weeks ago, Aguero could only watch as City lost 4-0. They were in the game for an hour, though, and things might have been different had City had somebody on the field to convert one or more of the chances they created.
Since that point, Aguero has had to listen to endless chatter about his future and indeed his enduring worth. At this point it should be mentioned that he signed a new contract at City earlier this year, averages a goal per game in all competitions this season (13 from 13) and already has two Champions League hat-tricks (one in the qualifying round) this term.
If that isn’t enough to close the argument then a defining contribution tonight probably would be.
Team-mate Nolito said yesterday: ‘He’s one of the best strikers in the world and it’s a pride to have him in the team. We hope he can have one of those days when he scores many goals and we can win the match.’
Watching Aguero play at the weekend was to see a player seemingly untroubled by the talk of the last couple of weeks. Those who know him, meanwhile, say the Argentine was profoundly disappointed to be left out at the Nou Camp, but no more than that. Yesterday, meanwhile, Guardiola was asked if Barcelona’s Luis Suarez is the player he would like Aguero, who is already 28, to emulate.
‘No, Luis Suarez has quality, but I don’t want those qualities,’ said the City manager.
‘Aguero has his own qualities. I want to help Aguero to achieve as much as possible. Suarez has a different quality I can’t ask of Sergio. What Suarez does I can’t ask Sergio because it would be unfair. I want to build up Sergio’s quality and also his mentality.’
Guardiola is the type of coach who likes to believe that all players can be improved. There is an argument to suggest that Aguero would be better left to concentrate on what he has been doing since he arrived at the club five years ago.
From the bench a fortnight ago, he will have seen the spaces Barcelona afforded City’s front players and will be encouraged by the fact that, until goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was sent off at 1-0, the Premier League team were proving genuinely competitive against the Catalans for the first time. He will also know that Barcelona will be missing three defenders tonight.
City have played Barca five times in this competition in the last twoand- a- half years and have lost every time. Strangely, the most recent game brought City their heaviest defeat but also their greatest encouragement.
Guardiola said: ‘I would like to repeat many things we did in the first hour. We had a few chances and have to keep going in that sense and try to finish better than we did in Barcelona.
‘I think we know what we have to do to beat them. They know us but hopefully our quality up front will make a difference.
‘We have to play in that way, like a final. It’s not a final for them, it is a final for us. It’s just three games left now. We dropped two points in Glasgow against Celtic. So we will try, we will try it again.
‘I’ve never thought we could not win, I have never entered a match thinking we can’t win. We have to play almost perfectly to win but if not we congratulate them and set our minds on the game against Celtic and in Monchengladbach in a few weeks.’
Goalkeeper Bravo is suspended as a result of his horror moment in the Nou Camp and will be replaced by Willy Caballero tonight. City have had four players sent off in games with Barcelona, a total twice as high as the number of goals they have managed.
Guardiola knows that if this happens again tonight his team may as well give up.
‘Yeah, you have to learn,’ he said. ‘It’s always difficult against Barcelona and when it’s 10 v 11 it’s almost impossible. Sometimes the red cards were unfair but last time it was from a mistake.
‘It’s impossible to achieve your targets if you don’t keep your discipline.’