Sergio Agüero dominated the fallout from Manchester City’s defeat in Barcelona without setting foot on the pitch for 79 minutes and he eclipsed Lionel Messi in the return at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night without getting on the scoresheet. The reaction of City’s gifted Argentinian was everything Pep Guardiola desired and demanded on their landmark victory in the Champions League.
The final touch eluded Agüero against Luis Enrique’s spell-binding yet defensively fragile team but, strangely for an outstanding goalscorer, that kept the focus on where the striker needed it most. His work rate, movement and creativity have all been brought into question since Guardiola made a tactical decision to omit his leading forward against Barcelona a fortnight ago.
He excelled on all counts in this encounter, assisting in two of City’s three goals – dispossessing Messi, no less, to instigate the move that led to Ilkay Gündogan’s second of a captivating night – and working a makeshift visiting defence to distraction.
If it was a shift and a response that the City manager was after from the Argentina international, he got both to enhance the club’s prospects of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League.
“He was awesome,” Guardiola said, glowing. “It was a tactic not to play him in Barcelona, one reason to play that movement with Kevin De Bruyne behind the back four. I said before and after, I appreciate him a lot. Sergio is not important, he is more than that. Without him, we cannot achieve our targets. His fight, his assists – I am so happy for him because he was so happy.”
Agüero’s relentless all-round game brought improvement from those around him – Raheem Sterling, David Silva and De Bruyne – and City’s memorable triumph was a merited reward for the player whose double in the 4-0 win at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday had restored confidence at a vital moment following six matches without a win.
Luis Enrique claimed City had tried to press his team “into the stands” at the Camp Nou and it was Agüero who led that same approach at the Etihad Stadium. Marc-André ter Stegen, the Barcelona goalkeeper, was put under pressure by the hosts’ forward line straight from the kick-off and the forward’s power, pace and agility should have assisted in an early penalty for Guardiola’s side. The Argentina international rolled Javier Mascherano and Lucas Digne before sprinting clear of both and picking out Sterling for the contentious first-half incident that resulted in the winger being booked when he was clearly caught inside the area by Samuel Umtiti. City, from coach to players to supporters, raged at the Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai but they were also enthused by the results of Agüero’s first confrontation with a weakened Barcelona defence.
Half of Enrique’s first-choice rearguard, Gerard Piqué and Jordi Alba, was absent through injury, while Jérémy Mathieu was suspended following his dismissal in the previous meeting. Their replacements ensured City would not monopolise costly errors on this occasion.
Guardiola had called for a “perfect” game to beat his old club but carelessness again blighted an otherwise confident start from City. Willy Caballero, John Stones and Sterling were all guilty of wasting possession inside the opening 10 minutes and their defensive structure was non-existent when Messi opened the scoring after a ridiculous one-two with Neymar that swept the length of the pitch. Agüero was one of six City players inside the Barcelona area when his shot was blocked by Mascherano – a seventh, Pablo Zabaleta, had continued his run off the pitch – and Messi seized on the rebound and the chasm to score within seconds.
It was another painful lesson of Barcelona’s exquisite ruthlessness, not that City required another after five successive Champions League defeats, but the quality of the response from the home side was equally impressive.
Agüero was central to the City comeback with his selflessness rather than the finishing for which he is renowned. The striker took receipt of Sergi Roberto’s foolish pass to release Sterling behind the visiting defence for Gündogan’s equaliser. Another measured ball into the England international should have produced City’s second shortly after the restart, only for Sterling to inexplicably decline the first-time shot, miscontrol and eventually find the side-netting.
Controversy surrounded the striker’s involvement in City’s third goal when he appeared to deliberately handball a cross from Jesús Navas before Gündogan applied the last, emphatic touch. The final telling counterattack of an enthralling game, however, commenced with an Agüero tackle on Messi on the edge of the City area and continued when the striker drove at the heart of the visiting rearguard.
Finally, after the misery of five previous Champions League defeats and the deflation of missing out at the Camp Nou, Agüero had put one over his long-time friend from Argentina.
