Aguero is among the best – but no-one ever beats Messi – Guardiola

January 13, 2020

Pep Guardiola has labelled Sergio Aguero as one of the best strikers in world football – but the Manchester City manager insists no player will ever top Lionel Messi as his favourite ever player.

Aguero’s hat-trick in City’s 6-1 romp at Aston Villa made him the Premier League’s record overseas scorer with 177 goals.

Riyad Mahrez’s first-half brace and Gabriel Jesus’ goal made light work of Villa, who crumbled to their sixth defeat in eight top-flight games on Sunday.

Guardiola managed Messi at Barcelona and believes he still sets the standard to which others aspire.

He said: “Sergio is one of the best, no doubt. The best is Messi, but the rest? Sergio is absolutely one of them.

“All the players in the locker room congratulated him. To break this record of an incredible legend like Thierry Henry, it means it’s not just for a short period, it’s many years.

“To be the foreign player with the most goals and hat-tricks speaks for itself.

“It’s an honour to be here the day he achieved that, hopefully he can score more. He will die scoring goals.

“There are players through the incredible history of English football and he is one of them, he helps to make the Premier League and English football better.”