Kelechi Iheanacho has said he saved N 50 to watch Sergio Aguero’s famous goal that secured the Premier League title for Manchester City in 2012.
Iheanacho was a 15- year -old when his now teammate Aguero scored a 94 th -minute winner on the final day of the season to clinch a 3 -2 victory over Queens Park Rangers and City ’s first title in 44 years .
Iheanacho had never watched City before but says the moment had a big impact on him — and four years on , the strikers are now lining up alongside each other at the Etihad Stadium.
The 20 - year -old said he usually could not afford to watch Premier League matches when he was growing up but made a special exception for Aguero’s dramatic winner on the final day of the season , which saw City take the title away from bitter rivals Manchester United.
“ There was one place in town that everybody called the ‘game centre, ’ and it had a satellite dish, but you had to pay money to go inside,” Iheanacho told The Players ’ Tribune .
“ It was N50 for a Premier League match, and I did not have that kind of money . So I would wait outside playing football with my mates until somebody came out and told us what had happened in the match.
“ In 2012 , when I was 15 , I saved some money and went to the game centre on the last day of the Premier League season. It was a very big deal , because the title race was so close .
“ I sat there and watched Sergio Aguero score the last - minute goal that won Man City the title — and that took it away from Man United . On the TV, Sergio took his shirt off and whipped it around, and everybody in the game centre was going crazy.
“ That was maybe the first Man City game I ever watched . I had never been to England before . I had no idea that in a few years, I would be playing on the same team as Sergio .”
Iheanacho , who has scored six goals this season, also revealed how special it was to net the winner at Old Trafford in the 2- 1 victory over United earlier this season.
He was called into the side for the derby on Sept . 10 because Aguero was serving a three- game suspension, and Iheanacho said it was difficult to stay calm for such a big game .
“Because I was only 19 , I did not expect to be in the starting XI , ” he added. “ When the manager told me that I was going to start , I tried to tell myself , ‘ it ’ s just a game of football, ’ but if I am telling the truth, it is not a normal game. ”
Source: PUNCH
0 Comments