Pep Guardiola believes Sergio Agüero should not apologise for fracturing a rib in a car accident and ruling himself out of Manchester City’s trip to Chelsea, with the head coach saying: “I’m not the police.”
Agüero suffered the injury in Amsterdam at 11pm on Thursday when his taxi hit a lamp-post as the striker was being driven to the airport to fly back to Manchester. Agüero was on a day off and had been attending the concert of the Colombian singer Maluma. The incident occurred less than 48 hours before Saturday evening’s match at Chelsea.
Asked if Agüero should have put himself in the position he did, Guardiola was insistent the Argentinian had done nothing wrong. “It was his day off, I’m not the police,” he said, before admitting no knowledge of the whereabouts of a player who has scored seven times in his last eight appearances.
“I only knew this morning when I woke up [of the accident]. I don’t want to know what my players do. If they are fathers [Agüero is], they have a full responsibility on their shoulders on and off the pitch. They know what they have to do. I have a private life, a family. There are rules and ways to live between each other and that’s all.”
Agüero will be out for between two to four weeks the club said. Earlier Guardiola was unclear when the forward may return. “I’m not a doctor, I don’t know exactly what he had,” he said. “Fortunately he’ll come back and recover as soon as possible. Of course it’s a problem. I’d prefer to be [playing with Benjamin] Mendy, with [Vincent] Kompany and with Sergio Agüero.”
Those two are also injured but the rest of the City squad trained at 11am and Guardiola shrugged off concerns regarding Agüero’s readiness to join them had he not been in an accident. “Our players’ physical condition is top. They work amazing. Our athletic preparation is perfect,” he said. “We trained 11am so he had enough time to rest. He’s strong enough. He travelled in a private jet so no problem. I don’t know what the supporters think.
“Some of them can be upset, some not. At the end it’s fortunate the injury is not bad, he healthy. He’s alive. The most important thing is he’s OK. After that he’s mature enough to know exactly what he has to do. I didn’t speak with him [yet]. Why should he apologise to me? No.”
Guardiola was curt when it was put to him that Aguero’s accident could have been avoided. “Yes, the taxi driver didn’t see the curve and the post,” the manager said. “Sergio didn’t drive. I know a player who got injured off a broken glass in the kitchen and cut his finger – he was out two months. Life is life.”
Earlier Agüero told Radio Metro de Argentina: “The taxi driver did not see the curve and, skid. And when he skidded, we hit him with the pole. I broke my rib, now I’m resting. It hurts me badly.”
Regarding Mendy, who had an operation on his ruptured knee on Friday, Guardiola said: “He will be out until our semi-finals of Champions League [late April].”
Despite his latest calf problem Kompany has been named in Belgium’s squad for the internationals. Yet Guardiola said: “He didn’t make one training session with us since a month ago. I spoke with Roberto Martínez. He told me he’s travelling there for a meeting with the Belgium doctors but he’s coming back. Of course he cannot play with Belgium.”