Sergio Agüero’s Five Best Etihad Goals

What a disastrous international break this is turning into for Manchester City. First, key striker Sergio Agüero picks up a hamstring injury playing for Argentina, meaning the Blues are likely to be without their star man for anywhere between a month and eight weeks.

As if that blow wasn’t enough, David Silva lasted just ten minutes for Spain after injuring his calf. With their club facing a busy few weeks, the two injuries provide a huge blow for manager Manuel Pellegrini.

Agüero’s injury is particularly sickening as he had just started to find his best form, following a slow start to the season.

As this is the fifth year the Argentine has spent in Manchester, and taking inspiration from his spectacular five-goal haul last week, here are his five best strikes at the Etihad Stadium, with one goal selected from each season.

2011/2012 – Manchester City v Swansea

The obvious choice here would be to select the goal scored in the dying seconds of the season. You may just recall that one; against QPR, Kun made himself a club legend by netting in stoppage-time to win City their first league title in 44 years.

That was unquestionably a great goal, but there’s another that sticks in the mind and it was scored on his debut. City were already 3-0 up and had the points in the bag on the opening night against the newly promoted Swans. Indeed, Agüero himself had already started repaying his £38m fee with one goal as a second-half substitute, but something special was still to come.

As the clock ticked past 90 minutes, the home side were toying with the beaten visitors and not exactly rushing to score again; the debutant was on a different wavelength. He collected the ball from Yaya Toure, took two touches and then absolutely spanked a wonder-strike past Michel Vorm from 25 yards. The ball dipped and swerved before hitting the back of the net and sent City fans into dreamland. After a comprehensive win and impressive team performance, there was only one name on the lips of Blues supporters leaving the stadium that night. Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero had just given an early demonstration of his immense ability – it was only a glimpse of what was to come.

2012/13 – Manchester City v Liverpool

There wasn’t a whole lot to smile about in this campaign for Roberto Mancini’s men. Their title defence had been a disaster, as had their Champions League efforts. There were some reasons for cheer though, and Agüero provided one in this February draw with Liverpool.

With the home side trailing by a goal, it was a moment of genius that leveled the score at 2-2. With the ball punted forward, the visitor’s ‘keeper Pepe Reina came charging out. Kun beat him to the ball but left himself at a seemingly impossible angle to take advantage of the now goalkeeper-less net, but impossible doesn’t seem to matter to the striker. Seemingly without looking up, on the turn he steered a right-foot shot into the goal. His celebration hinted at his own disbelief at what he’d just done.

2013/14 – Manchester City v Manchester United

Any goal in the Manchester derby is going to be well received, but when City’s number 16 opened the scoring in this September fixture, he set the ball rolling for what would become of the most memorable City victories of recent years.

Both sides had new managers in the dug-out; the last thing either of them needed was a dismantling at the hands of their biggest rivals. Unfortunately for Red’s boss David Moyes, that is exactly what his side were handed and it all began at the boot of Sergio Agüero.

In the 16th minute, Samir Nasri displayed excellent skill to hold the ball up and wait for Aleksander Kolarov to make the overlap, before a bit of showboating set the Serbian free on the left. His ball across was good, but not quite good enough. It was played hard and about a yard behind the run of Agüero. No problem though - not for this maestro. It’s sometimes hard to tell whether great players work on instinct or judgement; whatever it is, it is no less than genius. Eight yards from goal, Agüero half-pivoted and got his left instep onto the ball, at once cushioning it and steering it past a hapless United goalkeeper. Just 16 minutes in, the floodgates were open. City went on to humiliate their cross-city rivals with a resounding 4-1 victory, undoubtedly taking confidence from the early blow struck by their star-man.

2014/15 – Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur

Just like in 2012/13, this was a title-defence to forget as Manuel Pellegrini repeated Roberto Mancini’s trick of following up an incredible success with an uninspiring runner-up position. However, there was one truly bright spot as Serigio Agüero walloped, stroked and caressed his way to the Premier League golden boot award.

His best goal at home that season came in a 4-1 victory over Spurs, in which he just happened to score all of his team’s goals. Two came from the spot, whilst another penalty was saved. The pick of the bunch was his fourth of the day. A quick free kick set Kun away down the right. He sprung behind Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen to collect the ball and took one touch to cut back inside the defender. With a low left-foot shot, he curled the ball expertly inside the far-post, picking out a part of the net that Hugo Lloris probably didn’t didn’t even know he had.

2015/16 – Manchester City v Chelsea

The season is only young, but the talismanic striker already has a few significant moments to his name, not least the opening goal against defending Champions Chelsea. This was City’s first home game at the revamped Etihad stadium; there was an electric atmosphere as the Blues dismantled Jose Mourinho’s outfit.

It all started with Agüero (doesn’t it always?) He’d already been denied three times by Asmir Begovic, but that didn’t deter him. With just over half-an-hour gone, Kun did something so good that it was almost unfair. 19 yards from goal, he collected the ball on his chest and took a touch that wiped out three defenders instantly. At least, that’s how it appeared. Slow motion replays actually showed that there were a series of micro-touches used; it was really the slow-mo that showed Agüero’s speed of thought. The rest was elementary as he tucked a left-foot shot past Begovic to lift the roof off the Etihad.