Aguero
The Manchester City striker has outscored his Barcelona rival so far in 2016-17 but the Uruguayan had the better record last season, though Guardiola would rather not compare.
Pep Guardiola insists that he does not want Sergio Aguero to take after Luis Suarez as the two strikers prepare to face off in Manchester City’s Champions League encounter with Barcelona.
Suarez scored a phenomenal 59 goals in 53 appearances as Barca claimed Spain’s domestic double and the Club World Cup last season and is already onto 10 in 14 games this term.
Those numbers are outstripped by Aguero, whose double in City’s 4-0 win at West Brom on Saturday took him to 13 in 13 for 2016-17.
Camp Nou was deprived of a showdown between the two forwards when Guardiola surprisingly left Aguero on the bench before 10-man City slumped to a 4-0 loss at his old stamping grounds two weeks previously.
The former Barca and Bayern Munich boss’s calls for Aguero to improve his all-round game were noticeably softened at the weekend, with Guardiola insisting that the 28-year-old is “at that level” when his penalty-box prowess is set against the likes of Suarez and Lionel Messi.
Nevertheless, the City manager maintains that Aguero can be spoken of alongside the world’s best on his own terms.
Asked by reporters whether he wanted Aguero to play more like Suarez for the Premier League leaders, Guardiola replied: “The quality from Luis Suarez is his qualities. I don’t want those qualities – Aguero has his own qualities.
“I want to help Aguero to achieve his huge qualities as much as possible. That’s what it is. He has some qualities and I cannot ask Sergio to do what Luis Suarez does because it would be unfair.
“I know the qualities the player has to develop; mostly his mentality. That is what I want.”
Spain forward Nolito could be in line to face his former club alongside Aguero as City seek to improve on four points from three matches in the group stage.
“Well, I think he’s one of the best strikers in the world,” Nolito said of his team-mate, “and it’s a pride to have him in the team. We hope that he can have one of those days when he scores many goals and hopefully we can win the match.”
City are not so well stocked at full-back, with defensive midfielder Fernando or teenager Pablo Maffeo in line to feature at right-back if Guardiola opts to use a back four, with Bacary Sagna (hamstring) and Pablo Zabaleta (foot) set to miss out once more.
Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba will not feature in Manchester as Barca nurse injury problems of their own but Guardiola sees this to be of little advantage to his current employers.
“I think we have to think that we’ve not go right-backs,” he added. “We have one that has recently played there and one that is 19. We all have problems.
“We all have players out. They have some important players out but 4-0 is 4-0. We have to learn from that. When you lose in that way the only thing you can do is learn.”
