Sergio may be good – but he’s got nothing on his father-in-law

Posted Tuesday, November 22, 2011 by The Sun

Sergio may be good – but he’s got nothing on his father-in-law
POWER NAP ... Sergio Aguero trains with City team-mates yesterday before their Napoli clash

SERGIO AGUERO tonight steps out on the ground where his father-in-law became — and still remains — a god.

As the 70,000 fanatics who will pack Napoli's Stadio San Paolo will tell you, Aguero may be good but the shadow cast by Diego Maradona still stretches all the way back to Buenos Aires.

Even the £35million Manchester City striker admitted: "Diego was a genius. I am just an apprentice."

If there is to be a comparison, it should be between Aguero and his fellow Argentine Carlos Tevez.

As Tevez remains sulking back home, Aguero has taken his place in the hearts of all City supporters.

And as far as the Etihad faithful are concerned, Tevez no longer exists.

Instead, Aguero, still only 23, has emerged as the perfect foreign import.

While the petulant Tevez turned on a city that had taken him to its bosom — moaning not just about the weather but, hilariously, that he couldn't find a house in Manchester for under £7.5m — Aguero has got his head down. And kept it down.

And for that City supporters should remain eternally grateful to Aguero's wife Giannina, daughter of the great Diego and mother of the Argentine legend's grandson Benjamin.

For while Tevez has used his family's inability to settle in Manchester as an excuse for his own unhappiness and cover for pushing for yet another multi-million pound move, Giannina and her husband have shown them how it can be done.

Talking at the vast though now ramshackle, run-down stadium where his father-in-law worked his miracles, Aguero said: "Maybe Manchester is not an easy city to adjust to for players from South America. But I'm doing well so far and the main reason is down to my wife.

"She understands City are an important club and one that made a decisive bet on me for their project.

"Giannina and I have been together now for four years.

"She is the woman in my life and my support system.

"She grew up in the football bubble and knows all about it. That is an enormous help. Ever since we became engaged, she told me 'Look, I know football, I understand how it works. I will follow you wherever the game takes you'.

"And that is exactly what has happened.

"She followed me to Atletico Madrid from Buenos Aires and, in many ways, that was more difficult than going to Manchester. When I signed for City, she was here with me within four days.

"That was so important to me. That proved just how much she DID understand.

"Now we have our house here and we are enjoying every minute of it. It is so important for a footballer to have a happy home life — especially when you are playing in a foreign country."

While Tevez has slowly shredded everything that remained of a reputation he had worked so manfully to create, Aguero has inherited the crown his compatriot so casually tossed away.

And tonight he will be looking to add to the 11 goals he has already scored for City in his first season.

Victory over Napoli will end the Italians' interest in the tournament and see City qualify from Group A for the Champions League knockout stages.

For years, Napoli fans have been looking for the heir apparent to the deity that was and still is Maradona.

In seven years in the 1980s, the Argentine superstar took the unfashionable, unsuccessful, rough-and-ready seaport from Southern Italy to its first Serie A title.

They went on to win another league crown, plus the Coppa Italia and UEFA Cup.

Since then they have fallen back into relative obscurity... until qualifying for this season's Champions League.

How painfully ironic then if Aguero, by association almost one of the Napoli family, helps dispatch them back to the wilderness tonight. But, please, no comparisons with his father-in-law.

And certainly none of that 'new Maradona' hyperbole.

Though he did actually break one of Maradona's records by becoming the youngest player in the Argentine First Division at 15 years and 35 days with Independiente.

Aguero said: "I can only smile when people talk of us in the same breath — because these guys just don't know what they are saying.

"Diego was a one-off, the all-time great who can never be matched. I know I can play but don't say I'm the new Maradona.

"He was a magician with a ball at his feet, a leader, a total inspiration to him team-mates.

"No one, I repeat no one, could have transformed Argentina and Napoli like he did all those years ago.

"At the same time, I'm so so proud to be part of the Maradona family.

"Not only because of his great achievements as a footballer, his history as the world's best-ever player and his status as a legend in Argentina but also because he has wonderful human qualities.

"We both started out from humble backgrounds and if there is one thing he always says it's to never forget where we came from."

As for City and there remarkable start to the season, he said: "There is a very special feeling in Manchester right now and not just because of our league form.

"Our fans believe we can go a long way in the Champions League and I think they are right.

"We have everything in place to go much further than anyone might have expected a few months ago.

"We are starting to appreciate just what it means to City supporters.

"They have stuck with this club through some really difficult times. To do well in a tournament in which Manchester United have had so much success will mean more to them than anything.

"I know Diego achieved wonderful things here but I will not be overawed. I will have no nerves — I'm going out to enjoy myself."