Sergio Aguero is set to start for Manchester City against Barcelona in the Champions League after scoring twice in the 4-0 rout of West Brom on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola left Aguero out of his starting line-up for City’s previous fixture against Barca, but admitted on Saturday that the Argentine had played his way back into his plans.
Aguero set the Blues on their way to their first victory in seven games with two impressive goals inside the opening 30 minutes at The Hawthorns.
But Guardiola, who played Kevin De Bruyne up front at Camp Nou, teased that he would not reveal in which position he would play Aguero on Tuesday night.
“I think so,” he replied suggestively when asked if the striker will start on Tuesday. “But I'm not going to tell you in which position he's going to play.”
Guardiola insisted once again, however, that he does not regret leaving Aguero out of his side when City lost 4-0 in Catalunya.
"I explained that," he continued. "I thought to play one more man in the middle, I wanted more control, and I decided I wanted players to arrive in the box, not stay in the box, that’s the reason why.
"It was a tactical decision. Normally when the players are nice, always the reason why is the tactics. And I say again: we didn’t win, [so] I am guilty."
The City boss has demanded more of Aguero on several occasions this season and it is understood that the Catalan is not entirely pleased with his striker’s worth ethic.
There have even been reports that Aguero could be sold at the end of the season, but Guardiola first addressed those rumours by stating how happy he is with the forward and that is a stance he took again on Saturday.
“Sergio is so important for us, we don’t have too many strikers,” he added. “Gabriel Jesus is coming in December, January, maybe he is going to help us a lot, but now in that moment we have Kelechi [Iheanacho] and Sergio.
“Kelechi is a young, young player, a huge talent, but he is young, he has to learn a lot.
“Sergio is a special player, I would like to convince him how important he is for us. We need him, we need him a lot, and when he is in that behaviour, he is hungry, in that moment he is [decisive].
"He is part of the story of this club and we want to help him to be bigger and bigger and part of this fantastic club.”
Although suggesting Aguero will play against Barcelona next week, Guardiola was reluctant to discuss the match in depth having only just put the worst ever winless run of his managerial career to an end.
“Right now it’s time, after six times without a win, to let me enjoy this game,” he said. “We have time in the press conference the day after tomorrow to explain, but [you should] know how important the [Barcelona] game is for us, against the best.
“But now it's time, with two hours and a half on the bus back to Manchester, to enjoy this victory.”
No comments:
Post a Comment