Record-Breaking Legend Aguero Inspires Man City Rout Of Villa
13th January 2020
Aguero eclipsed Thierry Henry's record as the top scoring non-English player in the Premier League by taking his tally to 177 goals and also surpassed Alan Shearer's league record for hat-tricks with his 12th
- Pep Guardiola said Sergio Aguero's legendary status had grown again after becoming the Premier League's top scoring foreign player with a hat-trick as Manchester City thrashed Aston Villa 6-1
- Guardiola could afford the luxury of recalling Aguero among six changes to the side that also outclassed Manchester United in midweek to put one foot in the League Cup final.
- Villa could be their opponents at Wembley on March 1 as they held Leicester 1-1 in the first leg of their semi-final on Wednesday, but on this evidence they would be powerless to stop City lifting the trophy for a third straight season.
MANCHESTER, United
Kingdom- Pep Guardiola said Sergio Aguero's legendary status had grown
again after becoming the Premier League's top scoring foreign player with a
hat-trick as Manchester City thrashed Aston Villa 6-1 on Sunday.
It may be too late to salvage City's defence of the Premier
League title as they remain 14 points behind runaway leaders Liverpool, who
also have a game in hand, but led by Aguero the champions moved ahead of
Leicester into second to show they will not give up the chase.
Aguero eclipsed Thierry Henry's record as the top scoring
non-English player in the Premier League by taking his tally to 177 goals and
also surpassed Alan Shearer's league record for hat-tricks with his 12th since
joining City from Atletico Madrid in 2011.
"He was a legend and the legend rises tonight,"
said Guardiola. "He is one of the most incredible players I've seen in
this league.
"To score this amount of goals and hat-tricks means you
have done for many, many years a lot of good things.
"You have to be consistent for many years so it's an
incredible compliment to him."
Guardiola could afford the luxury of recalling Aguero among
six changes to the side that also outclassed Manchester United in midweek to
put one foot in the League Cup final.
Villa could be their opponents at Wembley on March 1 as they
held Leicester 1-1 in the first leg of their semi-final on Wednesday, but on
this evidence they would be powerless to stop City lifting the trophy for a
third straight season.
The injury-hit hosts were without a recognised striker and
first-choice goalkeeper after Wesley and Tom Heaton were ruled out for the rest
of the season.
Former Spanish international 'keeper Pepe Reina was in the
stands ahead of his loan move from AC Milan being completed and will be needed
if Villa are to beat the drop after conceding 13 goals in their last four home
games.
"It was a chastening experience," said Smith.
"We are embarrassed by some of the goals we conceded today.
"We've come up against a top class team with a top
class manager and got found out."
- Mahrez on the mark -
Orjan Nyland was beaten at his near post as Riyad Mahrez was
allowed to cut onto his favoured left foot to open the floodgates on 18
minutes.
The Algerian's old Leicester teammate Danny Drinkwater was
making his Villa debut after troubled spells at Chelsea and Burnley since
leaving the Foxes.
His lack of match practice was exposed for City's second as
Drinkwater was caught in possession inside his own box by Gabriel Jesus and the
ball broke kindly for Mahrez to drill home his ninth goal of the season.
Aguero then thumped home a third, although Nyland could have
got a stronger hand to the Argentine's effort.
All that was missing from a complete City performance was a
moment of inspiration from Kevin De Bruyne and the Belgian duly delivered with
a wonderful curling cross to set the fourth on a plate for Jesus in first-half
stoppage time.
City did not let up after the break and could have made it
many more than six as David Silva picked out Aguero to calmly slot home his
record-breaking goal.
The Argentine's hat-trick arrived eight minutes from time as
he demonstrated his array of finishes by this time blasting his past the
helpless Nyland.
"I'm so happy for the record. It is thanks to my
teammates, they help me in these nine years," said Aguero.
"When I scored the second, I thought one more (and) I
break the hat-trick record. I want to keep scoring more goals."
Anwar El Ghazi scored from the penalty spot in stoppage
time, but it was little consolation for Villa, who dropped into the relegation
zone after Watford's win at Bournemouth earlier in the day.