Sergio Aguero has named the former Liverpool player who gave him a childhood affection for the Reds and who he would try to emulate in computer game form.
Manchester City’s all-time record goalscorer was speaking to Stake (via GOAL) when he stated that he loved watching the Merseysiders as a boy, chiefly because of the penalty box prowess of Michael Owen.
The Argentine said: “I used to like Liverpool when I was younger because of Owen, who had also started as a teenager. Even when I was playing on my PlayStation, I tried to play like Owen!”
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Owen burnt his bridges with many Liverpool fans when, five years after departing Anfield, he signed for our arch-rivals Manchester United, a move for which plenty haven’t forgiven him.
However, it’s beyond argument that the Reds’ former number 10 was a sublime goal-poacher, netting on his senior debut as a 17-year-old and going on to net 158 times in 297 appearances for the club (Transfermarkt).
That places him ninth in LFC’s all-time scoring charts, exceeding legends such as Ian St John, John Barnes and Kevin Keegan (lfchistory.net); and irrespective of what happened latterly in his career, it’s impossible to forget the late two-goal salvo to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the 2001 FA Cup final.
It’s a shame that Owen’s move to United eight years later tainted his Liverpool legacy among many supporters, but such is the deep-rooted rivalry between the two clubs that such a move was always going to be contentious.
It was also a pity that, having clearly liked the Merseyside club growing up, Aguero’s Premier League heroics came at Manchester City instead – although the calibre of forwards we’ve at Anfield over the past 10-12 years would be the envy of any team in world football!
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