UEFA Champions League Goal King Sergio Aguero was always aware that his career would eventually be defined by success in continental competition. He has his crown, now the king wants his cup.
Since his UCL story began on September 16, 2008, when he opened his account with two goals in Atletico Madrid’s 3-0 victory over PSV in Eindhoven, the Argentinian has established himself as one of the UCL’s deadliest forwards, adding 17 goals to the five he grabbed for Atleti.
It’s taken just five years since his 2011 arrival at Manchester City to become the English club’s all-time leading scorer in European competition.
The 27-year-old has come a long way since he made his debut for Independiente at the age of just 15 years, one month and three days, breaking Diego Maradona’s record to become the youngest debutant in Argentine top-flight history.
“What we are seeing is one of the great arrivals in Argentinian football,” said World Cup-winning Coach Cesar Luis Menotti of a teenage Kun, nicknamed due to a boyhood obsession with the Japanese carton series.
As the goals arrived, so too did the comparisons with another UCL Goal King, Romario, who was the top-scorer in of the inaugural UEFA Champions League in 1992-93 with 7 goals (including the first round).
“He reminds me of Romario because of how he moves in the penalty area,” added Menotti of the heir to the Brazilian’s tag as King of the Penalty Area. Twenty-one of Aguero’s 22 UCL goal have arrived from inside the box, his equally low centre of gravity allowing him what often feels like the total freedom of the area.
Squat, stocky, deceptively strong and just as quick over one yard as he is over 15, Aguero’s devastating combination of speed, strength and technique has made him one of the finest marksmen in the game.
Like his Brazilian predecessor, Aguero also has a tendency to utilise the outside of his right boot to strike the ball early, as he did against Bayern Munich in 2014 to complete his only UCL hat-trick to date; though four of his UCL goals were stroked in with his weaker left foot.
Aguero also came from equally humble beginnings. Born and raised in Los Eucaliptos, his neighborhood surroundings on the outskirts of Buenos Aires were so humble the community earned the name of 'Villa Miserias'.
He joined record 7-time Copa Libertadores winners Independiente, known as the King of Cups, after being forced to turn down offers from other clubs because his family could not afford the £9 monthly membership fee due in order for him to participate.
Aguero has already earned his crown as one of the monarchs of the game’s greatest club competition, but he has put a time limit on his goal to lift the trophy and is now intent on adding to his total of just two goals in the UCL knockout stage.
His current deal with Man City ends in 2019, at which point he says he intends to return to his Avallenada kingdom and turn his attentions to South America’s greatest cup.
He has already proved himself a goal king, now all that remains for Sergio Aguero is to join the cup kings by claiming a continental crown, either in Europe or South America.
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