"i don't feel any pressure," sergio agüero told uefa.com as he prepared to continue his flying start at manchester city fc against their first group stage opponents ssc napoli.
sergio agüero came to manchester city fc with expectations to match a reported €40m price tag – and having made a flying start in england, he is now turning his thoughts to the club's uefa champions league debut.
the 23-year-old argentina forward ended his five-season spell at club atlético de madrid this summer having scored more than 100 goals in spain and won the uefa europa league. and the former ca independiente striker took only nine minutes of his city debut against swansea city fc to open his premier league account, soon making another goal before scoring again with a superb long-range strike. since then he has added four goals more, including a hat-trick in saturday's 3-0 defeat of wigan athletic fc, lending weight to his claim that he feels no burden from his hefty price tag.
"i don't feel any pressure," agüero told uefa.com. ""i think that if the club have that faith in me, it is because they need me and i hope that i can show that on the pitch" and do the things that i have always done from the time that i started at independiente, then at atlético. i carry on doing the same things, and now that i am with city, i want to keep on doing that in the same manner."
city host ssc napoli on wednesday in their first appearance in the uefa champions league, a competition that 'kun' twice graced with atlético. "i think [city can succeed], but we have to take it slowly. first of all we need to think about the initial matches, and then further down the road, we will see," agüero said. "the champions league competition is very hard and all the games will be tough, so we have to be prepared. we have a good squad, so i think that we can achieve something."
agüero's move to manchester has brought him together with argentina team-mates carlos tévez and pablo zabaleta, and the latter's advice has been welcome. "i spoke a lot to pablo and also with carlitos, but most of the time with pablo because we know each other from a long time ago. we spoke about many things and he gave me some insights into the city and the club, and in general about things over here."
after his remarkable city debut, manager roberto mancini declared: "sergio is a photocopy of romário, they are the same player." the italian is not the first to link the argentinian international to the former brazil favourite. "well i have been compared to him before," said agüero. "i had another manager, césar menotti, tell me that i was similar to romário, and i was 16 back then, so yes, i try to be myself and to have that comparison made because of my own name, and not his.
"obviously i am happy to be compared to him because he is a very good player. he is retired now but he was world-class, and i am happy about that, but i do want to be recognised because of my name and not another player's name."
another great whose name is often mentioned in the same breath as agüero is diego maradona, his father-in-law. "we never speak about football," he explained. "sometimes we do when the matches have already taken place, but we always keep in contact and talk about how he is doing, how i am doing, but nothing else. we also talk about the family, but overall football is football all over the world so he always tells me the same thing – football is the same wherever you play, so just carry on in the same way and things will be ok."
things will certainly be alright for city if their new signing keeps up his current form on wednesday, when maradona's former side, napoli, will have their work cut out keeping him quiet.
city'nin 2 ve napoli'nin 1 topu direkten döndü. napoli yakası ve kol uçları açık mavi ama geri kalanı grimsi bir forma ile sahaya çıktı. ama bence çok kötü bir forma. city ise klasik gök mavisi forma ile sahadaydı...
aleksandar kolarov's free-kick cancelled out edinson cavani's strike to ensure an opening point for both sides on their competition debuts.
manchester city fc came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw with ssc napoli in an entertaining opening uefa champions league group a game.
both teams were ending long exiles from europe's elite competition but it was napoli who struck first through edinson cavani midway through the second half. their lead lasted just five minutes, however, as aleksandar kolarov's sweetly struck free-kick earned roberto mancini's team a point.
'benvenuti' read the giant logo welcoming napoli above the entrance to the colin bell stand but city, victorious in their last ten home matches, immediately showed they intended their hospitality to end there, penning napoli back in the early stages.
city's spending power has brought a rare level of expectation for a club new to the uefa champions league and with only one previous european cup appearance, 43 years ago, to their name. city are no ordinary newcomers, though, and were soon threatening the napoli goal.
morgan de sanctis foiled sergio agüero at the far post from edin džeko's flick-on and when agüero and džeko then combined on the ground, the bosnian international sent an angled shot just past the far post.
for all city's possession, they very nearly fell behind in the 18th minute as ezequiel lavezzi stepped inside vincent kompany and side-footed a shot over joe hart and against the crossbar from the left. the hosts' early supremacy was waning, yet they went equally close before the break through yaya touré, who concluded a counter he had begun by driving against the crossbar from agüero's lay-off.
visiting coach walter mazzarri had described his team as "underdogs" on their first european cup outing in 21 years but their counterattacking threat was growing. soon after the restart marek hamšík volleyed juan zúñiga's far-post cross past hart only to be foiled by kompany on the goal line. hamšík went close again when substitute blerim dzemaili played him in on the left but pablo zabaleta stuck out a leg to deflect his shot over.
napoli kept knocking and duly got their goal after 69 minutes when christian maggio robbed gareth barry and drove forward before feeding cavani to his right; the uruguayan fired the ball low through hart's legs. city nearly responded with agüero striking the crossbar from close range but it was kolarov who came to their rescue. after zabaleta was fouled on the right-hand corner of the box, the serbian international curled his free-kick over the wall of grey shirts and inside the near post.
yardımcı hakemler: fredrik nilsson (swe), mathias klasenius (swe)
4. hakem: martin strömbergsson (swe)
çizgi hakemleri: markus strömbergsson (swe), tobias mattsson (swe)
man. city: joe hart (gk), vincent kompany (c), pablo zabaleta, joleon lescott, edin džeko (dk. 81 carlos tévez), aleksandar kolarov (dk. 75 gaël clichy), sergio agüero, gareth barry, samir nasri (dk. 76 adam johnson), david silva, yaya touré
yedekler: costel pantilimon (gk), micah richards, stefan savić, kolo touré
teknik direktör: roberto mancini (ita)
napoli: morgan de sanctis (gk), salvatore aronica, edinson cavani (dk. 84 goran pandev), christian maggio, hugo campagnaro, marek hamšík (dk. 89 mario santana), juan zúñiga, ezequiel lavezzi (dk. 58 blerim dzemaili), walter gargano, paolo cannavaro (c), gökhan inler
yedekler: antonio rosati (gk), ignacio fideleff, andrea dossena, federico fernández
1. fc bayern münchen...1...1...0...0...2...0...2...3 2. ssc napoli...1...0...1...0...1...1...0...1 3. manchester city fc...1...0...1...0...1...1...0...1 4. villarreal cf...1...0...0...1...0...2...-2...0
