An Ode to Sergio

Normally, my articles focus on analysis rather than the emotional side of football. This is different. Personally, I became a Manchester City fan because of Sergio Agüero. In America, soccer (or football if you live across the pond) is not a very prominent sport. I was always into American football, basketball, baseball or hockey growing up. One thing I always liked to do as well, though, was play video games. I began playing FIFA knowing very little about the sport in 2011 or so, and my favorite teams to play with were Manchester City and Argentina, namely due to the quick little guy who would score all my goals no matter the angle.

I must admit, I am not much of an emotional person in general. With that being said, the 2021 calendar year for Sergio Agüero has made me feel ways that I never expected to feel about a footballer. It hurt knowing that he was forced to leave Manchester City even though he wanted to stay. It hurt that he was consistently injured the last couple of seasons and we could not give him a proper farewell. But now it hurts the most knowing that he was forced to retire prematurely due to a heart issue rather than conventional injury problems or because he could not make an impact.

At Manchester City, we have seen numerous club legends leave the club recently. We saw David Silva leave, but he was a more quiet character. Yaya Toure was polarizing at times. Pablo Zabaleta had the heart of a lion and was loved for that. But Sergio Agüero had something completely unique and special with the fans of Manchester City that is simply indescribable.

From the outside, people may think he is so loved here due to his impeccable scoring record as well as the most famous goal in Premier League history. His accomplishments speak for themselves. But that doesn’t tell the entire story of why he is so loved. In 2011, this little guy from Atlético de Madrid arrives, and the rest is history. His first game in a Manchester City uniform, he steps on the field for 32 minutes and scores two goals. We knew we had a special talent, but we did not know the person that came along with it.

Not only was he a complete assassin on the field, but he brought a youthful exuberance to Manchester City Football Club that cannot be quantified. To capture the personality of Kun, you don’t have to look very far. Just subscribe to his Twitch channel and you will never enjoy something so much in your life, even if you don’t speak Spanish. Here is one clip of him (with English subtitles):

Its Kun’s persona that we came to love every bit as much as his accomplishments, and that is what made him special. When we saw him speak in an interview or documentary, it was like you were watching one of your best friends on the TV. From making fun of Nicolas Otamendi on the Amazon documentary to calling Lionel Messi live on a Twitch stream, it’s really hard to hate the man. The fact that he has such a golden personality along with being one of the best strikers to ever play makes him that much more loved by Manchester City. That is also why watching his retirement announcement hurt that much more.

I am going to embarrassingly admit that I have watched Agüero’s last Premier League match against Everton probably a dozen times and it never ceases to make me emotional. He surpassed Wayne Rooney for Premier League goals in the last match, which is only poetic justice for him scoring the goal to deny Rooney from a league title 9 years prior. He left City the same way he arrived, in style.

Upon learning that Kun was heading to the Camp Nou to play alongside one of his best friends, I think the City fanbase as a whole was happy for him. We could still watch him play at a high level for a big European team. Then, not long after he gets there, Messi was forced to leave due to Barcelona’s financial troubles. Injury after injury came in his first and only season with Barcelona until he began to feel chest pain on the field and his footballing career came to an end. This is not the way for a legend to end his career, and it feels so wrong.

Sergio Agüero was a man who loves football with every bone in his body, and had to leave the pitch in the most heartbreaking of ways. We can only hope that he doesn’t stay away from Manchester City Football Club forever, because we already miss him.