Incredible, unbelievable, special. The superlatives for Sergio Aguero rolled off the tongues of his Manchester City team-mates
late on Tuesday night as they hailed the undisputed Etihad hero.
His injury-time goal against QPR in 2012 to clinch the Premier League title may well be difficult to surpass, but his strike in added time to complete a hat-trick and a pulsating victory over Bayern Munich evoked memories of that unforgettable occasion.
It also elevated him to even greater heights as a player. This was the matchwinning performance that has been demanded,
expected even, of Aguero given his astounding ability.
“He always delivers in a difficult moment,” said Samir Nasri of the Argentine striker.
That may be very true in domestic action since his arrival in the summer of 2011, but so often in the Champions League, City have needed him to deliver in the games that matter most and Aguero has been largely anonymous.
He has not been alone, but it is a factor in why they have failed to reach the last 16 in two of the previous three editions. When they did get there last season, injury affected Aguero as they bowed out to Barcelona.
What a game for @aguerosergiokun ! My boy is just fantastic!! Hat-trick hero!
— Yaya Touré (@YayaToure) November 25, 2014
This time, their hopes rest on shoulders that are getting broader with every game. He has become more essential to City than Yaya Toure, David Silva and captain Vincent Kompany.
And he has become as valuable, as irreplaceable, as Lionel Messi for Barca and Cristiano Ronaldo for Real Madrid. These are the ‘goal-den’ boys of world football, prolific scorers who are ice-cool when finishing and able to drag a team up when it is down. With them, anything is possible.
So it is strange how Aguero is still not mentioned as a contender for the top awards like the other pair. Can you really say he is not currently among the top five players in the world, let alone the top 23? To leave Aguero off the list for the Ballon d’Or was baffling.
By the end of January last season, he had scored 26 goals before injuries took their toll and he could add only two more.
Had he been fit, there’s no doubt he would have challenged Luis Suarez as English football’s Player of the Year. In this campaign Aguero has now scored 17, taking his tally to 78 in 121 Premier League and Champions League games for City.
The stats speak for themselves but why then has Aguero not even been nominated for the UEFA.com users’ Team of the Year list, which includes Salzburg’s Jonathan Soriano? No disrespect to the Spaniard, but Aguero is a class apart.
Being snubbed for individual prizes might not hurt as much as it should, but the 26-year-old should look at the Ballon d’Or list and take note of the reasons why he isn’t in the frame come January.
When you see names like Karim Benzema, Mario Gotze and Sergio Ramos, it is clear that he needs to help City achieve more on the bigger stage.
It is debatable whether this trio are really among the best of the best, but they are Champions League and World Cup winners.
They also play for clubs regarded among the biggest and best.
For all their ambitious plans and talk, City still have some way to go to rival them. But with Aguero in their ranks, their fans have every right to believe in miracles and that Europe can still be conquered and then the Argentinian will get the recognition he deserves.
