The 30-year-old striker marked his 300th game in blue with his side’s first goal, receiving deserved praise from his coach. Pep Guardiola is in no doubt over Sergio Aguero’s status as a Manchester City legend after the striker made his 300th appearance for the club. The Argentine opened the scoring on Saturday in the milestone display to take his goal tally up to 205 as City ran out 5-0 winners over Cardiff City. The 30-year-old is now tied to the reigning Premier League champions until 2021 after recently agreeing to a one-year contract extension, and Guardiola hopes he sees it out. “He is an authentic legend,” Guardiola said to Sky Sports. “It’s important what he has done at this club and hopefully we will have him for longer and he stays in a good position.”
Aguero was joined on the score sheet on Saturday by David Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez netting twice as Guardiola’s men recovered from their midweek Champions League defeat to Lyon. The coach was delighted with his side’s response to make it three Premier League wins in a row and remain close to early leaders Liverpool. “The level today was the level of last season,” Guardiola said. “We cannot forget the Champions League, the opponents are good too, we knew that. It’s part of the process. “The season is long, there are a lot of games to play. After one not good result, the team came back where it normally is. “Of course we are more confident at 0-3 than 0-0, to score goals you have to be patient and let the game speak for itself. “This kind of thing happens, we were patient, we didn’t suffer with the long balls and free-kicks, that’s always important.”
sHe also highlighted Mahrez, who got his first City goal just a few minutes after coming off the bench before rounding off the scoring late on. “He’s a guy who is going to help us a lot because he is a special talent and in front of the box he has an incredible quality,” Guardiola said.