Sergio Aguero, eh? What more can be said?
The only surprise in the first half on Saturday, as Raheem Sterling hesitated over a good chance and Gabriel Jesus strayed offside, was that Aguero attempted a pass rather than a shot when the chance was on.
It looked like even the arch goalscorer had come down with a case of whatever his team-mates suffer from, but in the second half he reminded everybody what he’s always been about, and the kind of finisher that Manchester City could still do with (even if they’re doing alright without one).
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His emphatic finish, caught on the half volley with the outside of his right foot, put City on the verge of the Premier League title.
Not that that was the main aim on Saturday lunchtime: as Guardiola noted on Friday they have another four games to get the job done even if they had dropped points at Crystal Palace.
The priority was to rest the top-performing players for Tuesday night’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain, and it’s unlikely that anyone could have done anything during the 90 minutes in South London to usurp their mates who were given the afternoon off.
That’s a reflection of their lofty standing but it also goes to show that several others, Aguero among them, have slipped a little below the level required in recent months, for various different reasons.
Injury and illness have robbed the Argentinean of a proper final season at City and even if his contribution on Saturday will not be enough for a start in the next game, or the ones after, then at least he did make a lasting impression.
This may not have been that QPR moment, or even when he squeezed the ball over the line at Turf Moor during the 2018-19 run in, but when the season is looked back on he will be there, as ever, celebrating a fine goal — and one that makes their lives a little bit easier.
“We can think about putting (the champagne) in the fridge now, yeah,” Guardiola said afterwards, a sure sign that it’s going to happen. If Liverpool beat Manchester United on Sunday then it will be over.
How fitting, then, that it was Aguero who had the biggest hand in putting them there, even in a season like this.
For a player that has been absolutely integral to everything his club have won over the past decade, it is jarring that he had only scored three goals before the weekend: two of those penalties, two of them in comfortable Champions League group stage wins.
He did enough in his first nine years at City to mean that an injury-hit final year wouldn’t have tarnished his legacy at all, but it says everything about him that he has kept going despite his frustrations.
This is a player, after all, who remodelled his game when Guardiola arrived at City, adding greater work rate and intelligence to his play while continuing to score goals.
And now he has a moment to add to the others.
“What a goal, what a player, what a man,” Guardiola exclaimed, summing up the feelings of an entire club.
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“He showed with his goal what he has been and what he is. I am delighted because I am in love with the person, he’s an incredible guy. What a goal, what a goal.”
As Joleon Lescott, the former City defender, said on TV after the game, it wasn’t even a chance. Aguero’s description was as simple as he made the finish look.
“Always Mendy tries to pass to me, the only thing is inside the box, one touch or two touches.”
It’s never quite as easy as that for the other City players whose chief job it is to score goals, with Sterling and Jesus in particular often overcomplicating things for themselves. It seems ridiculous to suggest it, given City could win three trophies this season, but they could do with a ruthless finisher and this was another reminder.
It’s not been a happy few months for Aguero, either. Sources close to him have been keen to point out that he is not entirely on board with the decision not to extend his contract, to put it mildly.
Those voices have claimed that Guardiola was the one responsible for the decision, rather than the club, and they have talked up the chances of a move to a Premier League rival.
That latter scenario seems unlikely — Barcelona are currently in the driving seat, as long as they sell a player or two — and it is all reminiscent of Guardiola’s first 18 months in Manchester, when both parties were never quite sure of the other’s motives but, publicly anyway, everything seemed perfect.
“Always I’m ready,” he said after the game. “I said before I’m fine to play. I’m feeling good, my knee is so good. I wait for the opportunity to play, like today. I hope Tuesday, if (I don’t) play it doesn’t matter, I want to be with the team-mates.”
This sums up the attitude, and that is something that Guardiola kept coming back to in his own interviews.
“He is an absolutely top legend, extraordinary player, the most humble human being,” the City boss said. “That’s why I love him as a man, another player in his situation could create conflict, a difficult situation, but he was completely the opposite.
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“When one guy is beloved like he is by the fans it’s not just because he scored a thousand million goals, it’s because he doesn’t hide. What he has done in this club will remain forever and he is going to help us in the Champions League and Premier League to finish it. It’s not easy to find a player like him, with his talents and achievements, to be a human like he is.”
After all, Aguero had even said that he told the club not to bother with a statue, not until the season is over, anyway.
“I told them I don’t want nothing, honestly, I prefer to wait until the end,” he said. “I will play until the end and then if the club want to do something, then thank you.”
The response will be unanimous: no, Sergio, thank you.
(Top Photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
