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'No limits' for Sergio Aguero as Manchester City history-maker continues to eye Europe's greatest prize

After scoring his 178th goal for the club last night, the forward feels there should be 'no limit' in terms of his scoring aims, nor Manchester City’s ambition

Miguel Delaney
Thursday 02 November 2017 17:49 GMT
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Sergio Aguero's goal helped seal victory against Napoli on Wednesday night
Sergio Aguero's goal helped seal victory against Napoli on Wednesday night (Getty)

Having made yet another stamp on Manchester City’s history, the club’s new record scorer Sergio Aguero feels they have made “a good step for the future” in terms of their chances of finally winning the Champions League.

The Argentine has long spoken about how he desperately wants to win the competition and that is much more important than any individual feat. But that only added to the symbolism of the fact that it was his 178th goal for the club - the one that finally beat Eric Brook’s record - that effectively settled what felt a landmark 4-2 win over Napoli, a match where manager Pep Guardiola said they showed a key new quality in how they responded to the Serie A leaders putting it up to them. Aguero does feel there is something “different” now about a “great" City team.

There was also an extra symbolism in the way he made history in the San Paolo stadium where Diego Maradona so famously did the same for Napoli, with the City striker saying he would be giving the shirt of the game to his son, Benji - who is of course Maradona’s grandson. The 29-year-old feels there should be “no limit” in terms of his scoring aims, nor City’s ambition - even if he was so obviously perpetuating the manager’s line that the team just need to keep looking to perform to this level.

“The Champions League, it's not easy,” Aguero said. “I think today was a good step for the future and I hope that, well, that we can go as far as possible.

“I believe we have a great team, but there's still a long way to go, the Champions League is long, and I hope we continue in this manner.

“Individually and collectively I think we've started very well, and we have to continue like that because, as we all know, England has a lot of matches and we have to be in good physical shape for what is to come.

“Napoli is a great team, it’s just that we are also playing very well. They try to play, and so do we. They win a lot because they are very good in front of goal. For me Napoli are one of the strongest rivals that I have faced, but I can only say that we are playing well and it’s a big step for us.”

Asked whether this is the best football he’s ever been involved in during his time at City, Aguero was typically unwilling to go too far, but said there had been an evolution.


 Manchester City are genuine title contenders for this year's Champions League title 
 (Getty)

“Yeah I think so. This year I think we are playing very good, but the other years are different because we have a different manager, different players. This year is new, new players came and we are very good. I think this squad, I don’t know but it’s the best in the group, I think.

“It is different. The squad for me every year is good, but I know this year we are very good because the new players have come, the new manager. I think this squad is impressive. I am happy but for me every year the squad is good.”

The one slightly lingering issue in all of this is the persistent question over Aguero’s future, over his place in the team, even though he has a contract until 2020 - and even though the club record has come because he has scored nine in 11 games this season and seven in seven in the Premier League.


 Aguero is now Manchester City's all-time top goalscorer 
 (Getty)

There may be fair questions over whether Aguero’s all-round is to the level it has been over the past few seasons, but he clearly has a key role in this side now, one that Guardiola has admirably figured it out. It no longer looks a compromise to play both the Argentine and Gabriel Jesus in the same starting XI, but instead a logical conclusion of a team that last season had created so many chances but often didn’t have enough bodies in the box to convert them.

Is it any wonder now they and Aguero are scoring in such abundance? It is also why he doesn’t exactly see a finishing line in terms of, well, finishing now that he’s broken the record.

“Nah, there's no limit. For me, every game is important. Obviously, when I score a goal, I'm very happy but above all a player is happy if his team wins. The limit is to keep going in this way and if there are more goals, all the better, but the important thing is to keep going in this way that I think is a good level.

“I just have to keep playing the same way, and I don’t know. It depends on how many years City play this way and keep trying to score goals, but the most important thing is to win titles.”

They all made an important step in the Stadio San Paolo on Wednesday. There’s no doubt about that.

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