Manuel Pellegrini’s men showed no mercy on their ailing counterparts, with a Sergio Aguero hat-trick ensuring that the Manchester outfit returned north with all three points. Things would have to break pretty crazily in order for them to have a chance at cracking the top four, or even finishing fifth to snag a Europa League place. His right-footed shot found the bottom left corner over a diving Courtois.
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Man City have the same team available that played against PSG.
As the Blues attempted to salvage something from the game, they pushed forward which meant leaving more gaps at the back. De Bruyne seized possession inside his own half and held off Baba Rahman before squaring to Aguero 25 yards from goal. Two minutes later, Aguero stepped up after missing a penalty kick chance earlier in the week, and slotted the chance home past a diving Asmir Begovic.
Since moving to City, however, Aguero has become a genuine world-class operator, winning the Premier League in both 2012 and 2014, and lifting the League Cup twice.
Kevin de Bruyne was central to all of City’s best moves, setting up the first goal in what was his first league appearance at Stamford Bridge since Chelsea sold him to Wolfsburg in January 2014. There is no doubting that Aguero is one of the finest strikers in Europe, if not the world and there seems to be no stopping the 27-year-old.
Just 18 months later he joined City in a club record £54million deal and has not looked back since.
Ahead of the massive fixture, Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink said: “City have had a handsome week after getting in to the semi-finals”. Then De Bruyne was released by Yaya Toure.Chelsea striker Diego Costa conceded the ball inside the hosts’ penalty area, and De Bruyne took advantage, motoring to the halfway line where he squared to Samir Nasri.
The Citizens may be without Vincent Kompany as the Belgian is still struggling with a calf problem. He can never match the pace of Aguero but can beat him in the air and also, will have to be very good in his positioning because De Bruyne will always be looking to find a hole in Chelsea’s defence. Chelsea are rightly in mid-table and could not leapfrog Stoke with a largely insipid display. “They will make their analysis and deal with the current management”.
Asked if his players were saving themselves for the Euros in June, Hiddink said: “Partly true, but I can not blame the players for having a lack of attitude”.
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