Manchester City 1-1 Middlesbrough
MCI: Aguero 43’; BORO: De Roon 90+1’
Man of the Match: George Friend (Middlesbrough)
It began with a quicksilver cameo to whet the appetite, an August evening in 2011 when Sergio Aguero first illuminated the Etihad Stadium.
He was the substitute who scored twice against Swansea, showcasing the speed and skill that are such features of his game. Little more than five years later, Aguero's prolific touch took him to 150 goals in Manchester City colours. He was their milestone man in a ground-breaking week which nevertheless concluded with familiar frustration.
Four days after beating Barcelona, an hour after Aguero became just the first City player in almost four decades to reach 150, Marten de Roon opened his Middlesbrough account. His 91st-minute header brought Boro a point and a goal that, in a ridiculously one-sided start, they had rarely threatened.
Aguero is indelibly associated with injury-time strikes at the Etihad Stadium after his title-deciding effort against QPR in 2012. This was one he, and City, could rue.
“I have a bad feeling because we conceded,” Aguero said.
More football
• In pictures: Sergio Aguero on target but Man City caught late by Middlesbrough
• Results & round-up: Marten de Roon header stuns Man City to earn draw late
While Barcelona were consigned to defeat on City turf, English opponents are proving more obdurate. City have an unwanted hat-trick. Like Everton, like Southampton, Middlesbrough drew 1-1 in a match when they had less of the ball and fewer chances.
“In all three games we are much, much better than the opponent,” said manager Pep Guardiola. “But we dropped six points.”
City’s eventual tallies yesterday stood at 71 per cent of possession and 25 shots. Only one went in.
In the first half, only one Boro player, left-back George Friend, had more touches than Victor Valdes. Yet the Spaniard, who was Guardiola’s goalkeeper at Barcelona, proved defiant – “he did three amazing saves,” said his manager, Aitor Karanka – and Friend provided a particularly telling contribution: it was his late centre that De Roon, climbing above Gael Clichy, met in emphatic fashion.
City were left to reflect upon a lack of ruthlessness.
“We need to improve in both boxes, both offensive and defensive, to score goals and not concede,” said Guardiola.
Valdes denied David Silva and Jesus Navas, whose wait for a league goal dates back 1,023 days to January 2014, clipped the outside of the post. Kevin De Bruyne missed an unguarded net seconds before De Roon levelled and as Valdes made his only error of the game.
Even Aguero, who spurned a glorious chance with five minutes remaining, was guilty of profligacy. His goal, however, illustrated why he is the most feared finisher in England.
De Bruyne provided the sort of cross that feels impossible to defend, bending it into a perfect area for a player with Aguero’s anticipation, acceleration and ability to evade defenders. The Argentinian duly brought up his 150.
“Big congratulations,” said Guardiola. “It is a huge mark. I only scored 11 in my career.”
Aguero is a one-man manifestation of the way the new City is overhauling the old; the record books are being rewritten, and not merely in terms of the silverware secured.
An old sidekick was found in the opposition ranks. Alvaro Negredo was Boro’s sole striker. The Spaniard almost scored a goal that was better than any of the 23 he mustered in City colours, nearly lobbing Claudio Bravo from the centre circle. Adam Forshaw came close to scoring, too, before De Roon delivered a point.
“In the second half we showed more intensity,” said Karanka. “In the first half we showed them too much respect and just tried to defend.”
His background as a centre-back is as apparent as Guardiola’s past as a passing midfielder. They are opposites, Real Madrid and Barcelona alumni, but they ended level in improbable fashion, just as players as different as Aguero and De Roon got a goal apiece.
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