adminLONDON. — Pep Guardiola insists that he does not want Sergio Aguero to take after Luis Suarez as the two strikers prepare to face off in Manchester City’s Champions League soccer encounter with Barcelona tonight.Suarez scored a phenomenal 59 goals in 53 appearances as Barca claimed Spain’s domestic double and the Club World Cup last season and is already onto 10 in 14 games this term.
Those numbers are outstripped by Aguero, whose double in City’s 4-0 win at West Brom on Saturday took him to 13 in 13 for 2016-17.
Camp Nou was deprived of a showdown between the two forwards when Guardiola surprisingly left Aguero on the bench before 10-man City slumped to a 4-0 loss at his old stamping grounds two weeks previously.
The former Barca and Bayern Munich boss’s calls for Aguero to improve his all-round game were noticeably softened at the weekend, with Guardiola insisting that the 28-year-old is “at that level” when his penalty-box prowess is set against the likes of Suarez and Lionel Messi. Nevertheless, the City manager maintains that Aguero can be spoken of alongside the world’s best on his own terms.
Asked by reporters whether he wanted Aguero to play more like Suarez for the Premier League leaders, Guardiola replied: “The quality from Luis Suarez is his qualities. I don’t want those qualities — Aguero has his own qualities. “I want to help Aguero to achieve his huge qualities as much as possible. That’s what it is. He has some qualities and I cannot ask Sergio to do what Luis Suarez does because it would be unfair. — Goal.com.
Online Reporter