Sergio Aguero is the epitome of consistency; the Manchester City man has dazzled and excited fans with his explosive antics on the pitch. In chronological order, we look back at five classic Premier League moments from the EPL’s all-time top foreign goalscorer.
A Scintillating Start
Man City 4-0 Swansea – 15 August 2011
Sergio Aguero’s potential for sheer destruction was evident from the very moment he first took to the Etihad Stadium pitch. The start of 2011/12 brought newly-promoted Swansea to City’s fortress, and a goalless first half saw the visitors give as good as they got.
While Edin Dzeko gave City the lead just before the hour mark, Swansea were still firmly in the contest, and City needed a born finisher to safeguard the result. Nigel de Jong made way for Aguero as manager Roberto Mancini went for the kill. It took no time at all for Aguero to justify that decision, scoring from a Micah Richards cross to the edge of the box.
David Silva, who would become a boon companion for Aguero in the coming months, made it 3-0 shortly after, before Aguero netted his second from 25 yards in added time. In doing so, Aguero joined an exclusive club of players – including Alan Shearer and Fabrizio Ravanelli – to have scored 2+ goals on a Premier League debut.
#93:20
Man City 3-2 QPR – 13 May 2012
Just nine months later, Aguero would find himself at the epicenter of what many people consider the Premier League’s most iconic moment yet. Generations of disappointment and torment for City, under the immovable red shadow of neighbours United, were buried by Aguero’s title-winning goal
Satisfyingly, it came on the cusp of the final 100 seconds of 2011/12:
Going into June 2020, Aguero had netted 47 game-winning Premier League goals – with those winners accounting for over a quarter (26.1%) of his overall league PL tally with City up to that point.
Even now, despite his advanced years, Aguero continues to pop up with decisive goals that maintain City’s perpetually-short title odds. These can be seen ahead of 2020/21’s commencement by those that check here closer to the time.
In terms of pure importance though, nothing (at least from a City perspective) will ever top this strike on the domestic scene – ever.
One-man Demolition
Man City 6-1 Newcastle – 3 October 2015
After Andrew Cole’s quintet against Ipswich in 1995, only a select few have had the privilege of scoring five Premier League goals in a single match. Aguero joined that club in true A-list style, with his first three strikes alone constituting a ‘perfect’ hat trick of left/right-footed shots and a header.
Aside from making him the first (and currently only) non-European player to score a Premier League quintet, that five-star performance was a particularly important one for Aguero on a personal level. He went into the game without a goal from open play in 595 minutes of competitive action. He was also without a Premier League goal in 424 minutes prior to his first against the Magpies that day.
For Aguero himself, that campaign was second-best only to 2014/15 in terms of league goals per game (1.25), if counting only seasons in which Aguero made 30+ league appearances. While City did not win the title in 2015/16, there was always a feeling that the squad was on the cusp of something special – all they seemed to need was a manager who had won it all on the highest stage…
Fox Hunter
Man City 5-1 Leicester – 10 February 2018
It was a mission the powers at City accomplished with distinction, although it was not until Pep Guardiola’s second season at the Etihad Stadium that his true man-management skills in the Premier League became evident. 2017/18 was little more than a stroll for City, who racked up 100 points and set a new target for would-be record breaking champions.
In 2017/18, the title was already as good as won by February, but that did not stop Aguero from creating a new personal ‘best’ against Leicester City. His quartet against the Foxes was his third four-goal haul in the Premier League. As of the start of June 2020, no other striker had achieved such an accolade.
Typically, his goals against Leicester came in City’s time of need. Jamie Vardy had cancelled out Raheem Sterling’s opener, to yield a 1-1 half-time scoreline. Leicester can be a very frustrating side to play, but Aguero scored the decisive goal within just three minutes of the restart – though it was his final strike of the day that truly grabbed the headlines:
Simply the Best
Aston Villa 1-6 Man City – 12 January 2020
This truly was a day of days, with Aguero’s hat-trick against Aston Villa in January seeing him become the highest-scoring foreigner in the Premier League, and break Thierry Henry’s long-standing record. In truth City reduced Villa to mere onlookers, with Riyad Mahrez netting a double inside the first 25 minutes prior to Aguero’s first contribution. Aguero completed his hat trick in the second half.
In scoring his twelfth Premier League hat trick, Aguero also overtook Alan Shearer’s then-record tally of PL hat tricks. Aguero also currently accounts for two-thirds of the 18 total hat tricks scored by Argentines in the Premier League, and one more treble from Aguero will also see Argentina become the outright highest PL hat trick-scoring foreign country.
Though he is now 32 years of age, Aguero still has unfinished business with City. Just one more season will qualify him for a testimonial match – and it is anyone’s guess as to who the opposition will be, such is the array of teams that have fallen victim to Aguero’s lethal shooting down the years.
