Two goals and one assist: Sergio Aguero masterclass secures Manchester City's CL progress

Alvaro Negredo and Sergio Aguero

Alvaro Negredo and Sergio Aguero led Manchester City to qualification from their group in an emphatic 5-2 win over CSKA Moscow. The Spaniard bagged a hat-trick while his Argentine team-mate netted a brace at the Etihad Stadium to ensure City made the last-16 of the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.

Key Stats

Manchester City’s complete dominance over CSKA is evident in the majority of the key stats from the game. Firstly, the amount of shots City had on target (9) shows exactly why the English side scored five goals, which led them to such a prominent victory. Secondly, City’s clear domination over possession is the other reason to show Man City’s control over the Russian side. City had 56% possession of the ball, which equates to a huge 616 completed passes on the night – this, in European football is almost unheard of.

Often teams will dominate top-flight, domestic league games because there is a clear difference between the quality of the sides. In European competitions however, there is very rarely the sort of dominance where you see a team control the ball as much as City did against CSKA.

Man of the Match:

The Man of the Match award was always going to be a competition between strike duo Alvaro Negredo and Sergio Aguero. Using our Performance Score data, the Argentine just pips his team-mate take the Squawka Man of the Match award.

The 25-year-old former Atletico Madrid attacker scored twice, completed 83% of his passes (40/48) and as you can see from those passes below – they’re not just from the areas that Aguero should be attacking – the striker helped out everywhere – including completing seven passes inside his own half. This perfectly exemplifies why Aguero is so valued to all connected to City.

Within the first few minutes of the match, Aguero made it clear that he was going to do anything necessary to help his squad get those three points that would guarantee qualification to the Last 16 of the competition. The Argentine got the first goal of the match in the third minute via a penalty after David Silva drew a foul in the box. He calmly took the spot-kick and fired it home past CSKA ‘keeper, Igor Akinfeev.

He doubled the lead for his side after receiving the ball inside the 18-yard-box, turning expertly before burying the ball into the back of the CSKA net. A few minutes later, he helped turn the game into a rout by expertly creating an opportunity for Negredo, who slotted home from close range.

Performance Score

The performance score from Man City’s 5-2 win once again shows exactly why City won by a comfortable margin. As you can see, Manuel Pellegrini dominated from the first to the final minute, this is shown by as the game continued, the two lines that show each team’s performance score became wider and wider.

There were spells of slight-dominance for CSKA but nothing that proved enough for them to get even close to City or indeed, mount a comeback. The hosts always looked as if, if they needed to score another goal – they could, by just pressing forward a bit more and testing the CSKA goal whenever they wanted – it was that type of game.

Key Observations

One key observation that is worth a mention is the performance of Gael Clichy. Even though, because of City’s fine attacking display, the Frenchman is unlikely to be mentioned among the players who performed well, the 28-year-old staked a claim to be City’s permanent left-back.

It was highlighted prior to the match that one of CSKA’s main threats to Manchester City’s defence was Zoran Tosic, his threat was expertly nullified by Clichy. The former-Arsenal defender made five interceptions, and as you can see below, all five where on the right-hand side of CSKA’s midfield – in the exact position where Tosic was positioned. As a result, Tosic was given a performance score of -29 and only completed 77% of his attempted passes. Travail fait as they say in France.