Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero is hoping to maintain his good record in local derbies when the Blues meet near-neighbours and title rivals Manchester United later this month.
The Etihad Stadium outfit have been completely transformed since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover of the club in September 2008, spending in excess of £1 billion as Roberto Mancini’s men have become genuine contenders both at home and in Europe.
And they now sit joint of top the Premier League standings after the opening seven matches of the season, alongside United, with the pair neck-and-neck on 19 points having scored 47 goals between them.
It will be Aguero who the blue half of the city will be pinning their hopes on, after a stellar return of eight league goals already this term, to fire them to victory over Sir Alex Ferguson’s young, yet free-flowing Red Devils.
The 23-year-old former Independiente goal-getter has an enviable record in hostile derby clashes, having won all three meetings with fierce rivals Racing Club during his six-year career with the Buenos Aires side, for whom he bagged 23 goals in 54 league games.
“I played Racing three times and won three times. Hopefully here it will be the same!” he says in the November 2011 issue of FourFourTwo, out now.
“The best goal I ever scored was against Racing – I dribbled from my own half, beat three players and scored – and because it was in a derby, of course it meant more. If I could score a goal like that against United… it will be beautiful.”
Aguero will be hoping to see his son Benjamin, Diego Maradona’s grandson, also score in an Avellaneda derby one day, with the toddler’s genes expected to result in him becoming one of the greatest players of all time!
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Although he is only two-years-old, Aguero admits that plans are already in place for him to become an Independiente player, following in his father’s footsteps.
“My son and Diego Maradona’s grandson – he has to be a footballer! He is good already,” he says. “He is very small, though.
“There will be no problems with me being in England. He is only two, so it is a while before he will have to enter a team. He will learn a lot when he is eight or nine and he will train where I did, at Independiente.”
Read the full in-depth interview with Sergio Aguero in the November 2011 issue of FourFourTwo – a Manchester derby special.
It features exclusive interviews with Ashley Young, Roberto Mancini, Nemanja Vidic, Micah Richards and Tom Cleverley. Plus, find out how Fernando Torres could have been a goalkeeper! Subscribe now!
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Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.
