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Sergio Agüero reaping rewards after lifestyle overhaul
Agüero took his goal count for the season to 31 with his hat-trick against QPR on ¬Sunday
Jon Super/AP
James Ducker Northern Football Correspondent
Published at 12:01AM, May 12 2015
Sergio Agüero has revealed how he was forced to cut out red meat and overhaul his lifestyle with the help of an Italian medical expert to combat the injury problems that were plaguing his career.
The Manchester City striker, who took his goals tally for the season to 31 in 40 games with a hat-trick in the 6-0 win over Queens Park Rangers on Sunday, said that his frequent muscle issues had got so bad that he would often require treatment after every third training session.
A tipping point came last summer when, after a season blighted by calf, hamstring and groin complaints for City, Agüero struggled for fitness throughout the World Cup finals in Brazil and missed Argentina’s round-of-16 and quarter-final ties with a recurrence of a muscle injury in his country’s final group stage match against Nigeria.
Tired of being routinely undermined by such problems, and with City frustrated at the frequent disruptions, arrangements were put in place at the start of last season for Agüero to visit a doctor in Italy to conduct a detailed assessment of his daily diet and lifestyle. Widespread changes were recommended, most notably around his eating habits, which meant reducing his intake of red meat, pasta and sugar. City’s staff had already for some time been encouraging Agüero to eat more fish. He was also instructed to do more yoga. Even his choice of pillows and mattress were looked at.
“I went to a doctor in Italy and he checked everything we did,” Agüero, 26, said. “I had to change a lot of things, starting with my food. No more pasta, no more sugar and no meat, which I used to eat quite a bit because Argentine meat is very good.” The results have been pronounced. Although Agüero missed five weeks of this season with a knee ligament injury suffered against Everton in December, he has managed to steer clear of more muscle injuries.
“In training sessions, I was struggling a little bit last season,” he said. “For example, after every three training sessions I had to stop, so I have improved in that [respect]. I have also had to have a lot of treatment after training sessions as well. “Touch wood, I haven’t had any muscle injuries this season, only the knee problem. Hopefully, this season has proved that it [the change] has worked and I can stay the same until the end of my career.”
City’s failure to win a trophy aside, Agüero is not entirely satisfied with the season, though. Despite being the leading scorer in the Barclays Premier League with 25 goals, he was not on the shortlist for the PFA player of the year award or selected in the PFA team of the year. Harry Kane, of Tottenham Hotspur, and Diego Costa, of Chelsea, who have scored five and six league goals fewer than Agüero respectively, were chosen as the strikers.
“It also happened in the season when I scored 23 [league] goals and we won the Premier League [in 2011-12] and I didn’t get the young player of the season award,” said Agüero, who lost out to Kyle Walker, the Tottenham defender. “So my job is just to keep working as hard as I can and keep scoring goals.”