The striker has revealed the two sides he wishes to avoid in the last eight of Europe’s top competition and also denied a reported phone call to Lionel Messi about Pep Guardiola
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero is keen to avoid European giants Barcelona and Bayern Munich in Friday’s Champions League quarter-final draw.
City will be in the last eight for the first time in their history after securing a 3-1 aggregate victory against Dynamo Kiev in the round of 16.
Having been comfortably beaten by Barcelona at the first knock-out stage in each of the last two seasons, Aguero is wary of once again meeting Luis Enrique’s men, as well as future coach Pep Guardiola’s Bayern, but knows the Blues will have to face the biggest challenges if they are to win the trophy.
“You always want to go far, and to do that you have to face the best,” he told reporters. “Obviously Barca and Bayern are there, who are the two best by form, and obviously if we can avoid them all the better, but at some point we will have to face them.”
There is a very real possibility, should Bayern overcome Juventus in Munich on Wednesday, that City could be pitted against Guardiola, their incoming manager, in the next round.
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It had been reported that the Argentina striker called his international team-mate and close friend Lionel Messi to talk about the Spaniard after a deal to bring him to City was made official in February, but he said that is not the case: “No, no, we only chatted beforehand, before it was announced. Obviously for Leo he was a great coach, he won a lot of trophies and we hope he does well.
“I don’t know him [Guardiola], but let’s finish the season first in the best way possible.”
City could only muster a goalless draw with Kiev on Tuesday night but prevailed on aggregate thanks to the convincing first-leg victory they earned in Ukraine three weeks ago.
The hosts were rocked by early injuries to Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi at the Etihad Stadium, with the former likely to be out for at least a month, but Aguero insists it was visitors’ cautious game plan that made the clash a laid-back affair.
“I think it was a little strange because we were waiting for Kiev to come out and play a little,” he continued, “but we did not expect them to come out so relaxed, we did not have anything to lose. As I say it was a strange game.”
On reaching the last eight, he added: “I’m happy, we’re all here for this, to fight at the top and we are happy to get through.”