Aguero set to return to spearhead City attack
Reuters - Monday 17 October 2011, 02:00
Manchester City
striker Sergio Aguero will return from injury to spearhead his
side's Champions League rescue mission at home to Villarreal on
Tuesday.
While Roberto Mancini's side are flying high in the Premier
League two points clear of Manchester United at the top, the
same cannot be said of their Group A campaign in which they have
one point from two games.
"We have four games left and to have a chance of progressing
we need to beat Villarreal. We need 10 points," Mancini told
reporters.
Aguero missed Saturday's 4-1 league win over Aston Villa
with a groin injury and other leading players were rested after
international duty, but the Argentine is fit to face a Spanish
side he knows well from his La Liga days at Atletico Madrid.
"He will be ready for Villarreal," said Mancini who also has
Spain midfielder David Silva's inside knowledge to tap into.
"I think he [Silva] is one of the best players in the world.
He improved a lot in the last year."
City's top scorer this season with eight league goals,
Aguero is likely to partner Edin Dzeko up front while Mario
Balotelli serves the final match of a three-game ban and Carlos
Tevez remains ostracised as he faces disciplinary action.
Tevez's alleged refusal to come on as a second-half
substitute in the last Champions League game against Bayern
Munich detracted attention from what was a poor collective
performance in a 2-0 defeat.
The competition's debutants were held to a 1-1 draw at home
to Napoli in their opener and they blamed first-night nerves,
which they will not be able to do at the Etihad stadium this
week against visitors who have lost both group games.
'KNOCKOUT MATCH'
Villarreal, who have never beaten an English team in eight
Champions League matches and have failed to score in seven of
those, go into the game with injury concerns.
Coach Juan Carlos Garrido has been forced to call up three
players from the youth side as five of his first-team squad are
out, including Brazil striker Nilmar who is recuperating from
knee surgery.
Former Spain international Marcos Senna and fellow
midfielder Javier Camunas picked up muscle strains in Saturday's
0-0 La Liga draw at Getafe, joining Nilmar, forward Marco Ruben
and defender Angel in the treatment room.
Garrido said after Saturday's game the team had shown signs
of improvement following a disappointing start to the domestic
campaign, when they have recorded only one win in seven outings.
"On the one hand, we enjoy these matches, but on the other
we suffer competing against great players," he said.
"For us the two games against Manchester are like a knockout
match because qualification for the next phase is at stake."
Bayern lead the group on six points with Napoli second on
four.
Probable teams:
Manchester City: 25-Joe Hart; 22-Gael Clichy, 5-Pablo
Zabaleta, 4-Vincent Kompany, 2-Micah Richards; 21-David Silva,
42-Yaya Toure, 18-Gareth Barry, 19-Samir Nasri; 10-Edin Dzeko,
16-Sergio Aguero.
Villarreal: 13-Diego Lopez; 12-Cristian Zapata, 2-Gonzalo
Rodriguez, 5-Carlos Marchena, 15-Jose Catala; 20-Borja Valero,
18-Wakaso Mubarak, 8-Jonathan De Guzman, 21-Bruno Soriano,
10-Cani; 22-Giuseppe Rossi.
Referee: Pavel Kralovec (Czech Republic).