Manchester City cruised to the fourth round of the FA Cup as they beat Birmingham City 3-0. One player who was expected to start, but missed out was Argentine forward Sergio Aguero and Pep Guardiola explained the reasons for his absence after the game.
City found new goal scorers in the form of Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden. The former had a double brace in the first 15 minutes and the latter scored one to make it three nil. From the first minute, they never looked like they would lose control of the game as they had a very comfortable overall outing.
Aguero has had a difficult season so far, struggling with injuries which has resulted in him missing out on a lot of the campaign. It was expected that he would start on Sunday and Birmingham would have been the perfect opponent for him to make a comeback against.
Guardiola would go on to explain why we did not get to see the centre forward play any part. Given how strict COVID protocols are being followed, this made sense, as the boss told talkSPORT:
“He is isolating, unfortunately. He was in contact with one person who was positive. It is a pity.
“It was a perfect day to get minutes but unfortunately he has to be a few days out.”
Though City would have liked to see him playing, it is better to be safe than sorry. The Coronavirus situation is something that is being taken very seriously, all over the world and clubs need to strictly adhere to protocols and guidance.
The good news for Guardiola is that his players are coping well in the absence of the senior forward and the club’s all-time leading scorer. They are managing to get the goals and win games and that is the most important thing at the moment.
Manchester City will hope that Sergio Aguero will still play a part in their season at some point, and given his quality, they will see some more goals from him too.
They will next be in action against Brighton & Hove Albion, in the Premier League on Wednesday.
We are not sure as to when we will see the Argentine back in action, and it might not be until next week, but when he does return, City will look a much stronger team for sure.