He always looks a bit sheepish, Sergio Aguero. Like he is never really sure what all the fuss is about. The pre-match guard of honour certainly was not his thing. What transpired later definitely was, though. Pure Aguero.
Strip back the organised adulation, the statue, and here was Aguero paying homage to himself on his final bow. Two goals within 11 minutes of his second-half introduction. Almost a hat-trick. That is what he will remember from his last stand in Manchester City blue, the Everton net bulging; his team-mates darting from all sides of the Etihad to mob him.
Aguero has always been one of the finest scriptwriters around. Even when only half-fit. What a wonderful send-off for the greatest striker in this club’s history, setting a new record in the process with two predatory finishes that took him to 260 goals in City blue, eclipsing Wayne Rooney’s 183 for a single club in the Premier League.
Manchester City rounded off their Premier League campaign in style with the champions easing to a victory against Everton
Sergio Aguero hit a magnificent brace for City in his final league appearance to help his team put Everton fully to the sword
City treated their returning supporters to a fine performance and Kevin De Bruyne (second from left) slotted home the opener
The fine passing move that led to City’s first goal set the tone for a fixture in which the hosts bid farewell to legendary Aguero
Just could not help himself. This lad looks like he might be quite handy for Barcelona next season and City will do very well to sign a replacement who manages even half the impact Aguero has made in his decade here.
He leaves with all the memories and trophies but also an affinity with the area that he surely cannot have envisaged when tipping up from Atletico Madrid all those years ago. ‘Thank you, Sergio. You changed our lives,’ read one banner. And he really did, the true catalyst in catapulting City towards a new stratosphere. One in which lifting league titles is so normal, this a third in four seasons. Aguero’s manager wept after the champagne spray.
‘We love him so much,’ Pep Guardiola blubbed. ‘He is a special person for all of us. We cannot replace him.’ Aguero was eventually holding back the tears too, a glint in his eye as the video tributes from the likes of Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Pablo Zabaleta poured in.
De Bruyne was teed up on the edge of the penalty area and was able to curl his effort across Jordan Pickford and into the net
Gabriel Jesus slotted in City’s second with a similar finish after De Bruyne slotted through his team-mate to then neatly fire in
Everton gifted the ball away in a dangerous position and City pounced with Jesus played through to double his side’s lead
City had won the game, as they so often do, two goals clear within 15 minutes. Kevin De Bruyne’s opener was this wonderful team at their very best, Riyad Mahrez meandering in off the right while trading passes with both Gabriel Jesus and Phil Foden – an impromptu game of 3D draughts – and De Bruyne struck across the ball into Jordan Pickford’s far corner.
One soon became two. Everton attempted to play through midfield and failed, halted by the imperious Fernandinho. De Bruyne found Jesus, the Brazilian rampaged into the box, refusing a square pass and sending poor Ben Godfrey towards the supermarket over the road when feigning to shoot. With Godfrey absent, Jesus passed into the opposite corner.
But Guardiola agitated on the touchline. Defensively, they were nowhere near their solid best and Everton should have gone in at half-time holding something. Oleksandr Zinchenko’s lax back pass had evaded Ruben Dias just after the half hour, the central defender bringing down Richarlison, only for Gylfi Sigurdsson to miss the resulting penalty, a super Ederson down to his right.
Phil Foden netted City’s third goal after collecting the ball inside the box, jinking outside his man and then coolly rolling home
Foden’s finish was unerring and his sharp turn away from Ben Godfrey allowed him to plant across Pickford for the effort
Aguero was brought on midway through the second half and City’s all-time record scorer soon went on to net a superb double
City lulled but later fizzed again. Foden deserved a goal, operating in the central berth that is his eventual destiny. Such a fine display with energy and guile, capped off with City’s third, again caressing past Pickford before being afforded a breather ahead of the big one next week. Foden, 21 this week, already has three Premier League medals.
Aguero is departing with five of them, the only City player to have been involved in all of these triumphs over the past decade, and this quickly became his show. A brace, one a carefully crafted strike with the outside of his boot, the second a thumping header from Fernandinho’s cross. There could be no better way to say goodbye.
‘Before the game I felt strange,’ Aguero said. ‘It is difficult. It has been an honour. I cannot believe what has happened here.’ In his address to the supporters, he added: ‘The first title was the most important. I remember that day against QPR: I played s***!’ The Etihad laughed.
The visitors were left shell-shocked inside the first 15 minutes of the game as their bid for a European place quickly crumbled
Richarlison was felled inside the box by Ruben Dias, and the City centre back was booked with Everton awarded a penalty
But Everton’s poor afternoon continued after Gylfi Sigurdsson’s attempted spot kick was palmed away superbly by Ederson
Foden was handed another start in City’s final league game of the campaign and had been felled cynically by Mason Holgate
Pep Guardiola saluted the crowd after his rampant City team wrapped up yet another league title and dazzled again at home
Dominic Calvert-Lewin was afforded a glimmer of goal but his strike was kept out by this year’s Golden Glove winner Ederson
Aguero will leave City at the end of the season and, at his final game at the Etihad, had waved to the crowd while warming up
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