Manchester City’s Edin Dzeko ready to fill Sergio Agüero void at Roma

Manchester City's Edin Dzeko says: 'I’m happy to be back because I was never actually injured so long [a month].' Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters
Edin Dzeko has vowed to fill the void left by the injured Sergio Agüero and be the hero in Manchester City’s final Champions League group game against Roma at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday night.
If City win against Rudi García’s side and better CSKA Moscow’s result at Bayern Munich then next year’s knockout phase will be reached. But they will be without Agüero, who has scored 19 goals in 21 appearances, after the Argentinian suffered knee ligament damage in Saturday’s win over Everton.
Manuel Pellegrini said at Tuesday’s pre-match press conference that Agüero would be out for four to six weeks, although City’s manager later voiced fears that the layoff could be as long as eight weeks.
Dzeko is not 100% match-fit following a calf injury but should start and has a history of important strikes. When City claimed the title in 2011-12 he scored a 90th-minute equaliser in the final match against Queens Park Rangers before Agüero’s added-time winner. Last season Dzeko registered nine goals in City’s last 11 matches to help push the team to the championship.
Asked if he could again be the hero for Pellegrini’s side against Roma, the Bosnian said: “I’m there when the team needs me and first of all I’m happy to be back because I was never actually injured so long [a month] – it was a bit hard for me but now I’m back and I’ll do my best to try and score the goals and bring something good to the team.
“I did [score big goals] but that’s past now and we have to look to the future, and like I said I always try to do my job and my job is to score goals and I will keep scoring them I’m sure if I keep healthy.”
Dzeko’s first appearance since 8 November was as a substitute on Saturday, after 63 minutes. “I expected even less than 30 minutes; I was saying 15 minutes would be OK for me just to get back on the pitch and I already played 30. The feeling was OK but I still need some more games to come back,” he said.
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On whether he can play all of the match against Rome, Dzeko said: “Against Everton definitely not but Wednesday, who knows? We still have days [of] training so I will be better by Wednesday.”
Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Stevan Jovetic and Fernandinho, who had been doubtful, trained on Monday morning so they should be available to Pellegrini on Wednesday night. Dzeko believes the high-pressure stakes in Rome can bring the best out of City who defeated Bayern Munich in Group E’s previous round which had also been a must-win game.
He said: “It’s kind of a special situation, in the league and Champions League because we were just trying to play but when we were eight points behind [Chelsea] we knew: ‘OK, now we have to start playing.’ And in the Champions League as well, we lost the game at home to CSKA and then you have to win the next game, and we won it, so maybe we need that pressure: I don’t know. It’s hard to explain.
“We will definitely try to go there and score goals because if you don’t score the goals you can’t win the games. It will be a big game for them as well – I think the atmosphere will be amazing and that’s what’s football’s about, and those kind of games we want to play.
“I played many games with the good atmosphere but actually I’m looking forward to that game because they have great fans with a big stadium so it will hopefully be a night to remember.
“Definitely confidence is high – we won five in a row. It’s better confidence, better atmosphere in the team when you’re winning the games and I think we’re coming back to our normal performances especially after our national teams’ break and hopefully we can be even better in the next week. There will be some big games, crucial games.”
Of Agüero’s injury, Dzeko said: “That was a big blow for us – you can see how he played recently for us. [But] I’m back now, Alex [Kolarov] is back now, hopefully David will be back.”

Arsenal progress to the last 16 after Yaya Sanogo stuns Borussia Dortmund

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Arsenal’s Alexis Sánchez wheels away after his low curling shot made it 2-0 against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Reuters

Arsène Wenger can call off the search for the dictionary, at least for now. The Arsenal manager had said that he might have to delve for the tome to reacquaint himself with the meaning of crisis. After so many years and so many crises, he joked that he had forgotten how one could be qualified.
Many Arsenal supporters felt that the club was flirting with one as they took to the field here, on the back of three sobering results – the Champions League draw against Anderlecht, when they had led 3-0, and the Premier League losses to Swansea City and Manchester United. Per Mertesacker, the defender, said that the players had “dropped mentally”. This, he said, was a psychological challenge.
But on a dank night in north London, the players showed their mettle, albeit against a Borussia Dortmund that looked like a shadow of the team that had stormed to the final of the competition in 2013. Jürgen Klopp, the manager, lamented a lack of confidence and courage.
Arsenal were occasionally vibrant, almost always solid – which was arguably the biggest boon, after the well documented, recent lapses – and thoroughly deserved victors. The reward was a 15th consecutive qualification to the second round of Europe’s elite tournament. Whisper it, but they are not yet out of the running to nick top spot in Group D from Dortmund, which would increase their chances of a more favourable last-16 draw.
It was a game that will go down as the one in which Yaya Sanogo broke his scoring duck for the club on his 19th appearance and it was illuminated by the thrusting performances of Alexis Sánchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Sánchez scored again; Oxlade-Chamberlain was denied only by the woodwork.
But above all, it was defined by a more balanced feel to the performance. As Wenger put it afterwards, Arsenal were “more urgent to defend”. He has regularly stressed his confidence that there is something special in his squad and there was evidence here to support him.
The opening goal always stood to be decisive and, from a Dortmund point of view, Arsenal plundered it with indecent haste. For Sanogo, it was the stuff of dreams. The 21-year-old owed his selection to Danny Welbeck’s knee injury and Olivier Giroud’s ineligibility, and a penny for the thoughts of Lukas Podolski and Joel Campbell might have been worth the investment. The World Cup winner and World Cup star respectively could not have taken kindly to being overlooked for a callow rookie. Sanogo has looked almost painfully raw during his injury-scarred Arsenal career but Wenger’s faith in him has never wavered. “Sanogo will surprise you,” the manager has said. One minute and 15 seconds were on the stadium clock when Sanogo did just that.
There was a maverick quality to his hold-up work from Calum Chambers’ throw-in, as he played a bit of keepy-uppy before executing an extravagant back-heeled flick to Santi Cazorla. Sanogo span away, then he got the ball back and, suddenly, there he was, with only Roman Weidenfeller to beat. His first touch felt heavy but with the second Sanogo poked the ball through the goalkeeper’s legs. The delirious celebrations were underpinned by an element of collective amazement. Sanogo had looked to have been marginally offside from Cazorla’s pass but the flag stayed down. The linesman was a romantic at heart.
Dortmund’s travelling fans banged their drums and bellowed their anthems throughout. Their team came to flicker on the counter in the second part of the first half and Henrikh Mkhitaryan was at the heart of their best moments. He was denied an equaliser on 39 minutes by Emiliano Martínez. Mkhitaryan’s first touch following Lukasz Piszczek’s header was perfect and the second was struck at goal from close range. Martínez diverted it past his near post. Arsenal’s third-choice goalkeeper emerged with credit, and his reflex block at the very end from the substitute Adrián Ramos was of the highest order.
Arsenal played good football in patches and they might have taken a two-goal lead in the 10th minute, when Aaron Ramsey sprang Sanogo through the Dortmund back line. This time, Sanogo opted to jink inside only to run into Marcel Schmelzer. He battled to win the ball back and, when he shot, he was denied by Matthias Ginter’s block.
Klopp had said that this engagement had represented a holiday for him; a welcome break from the nightmare that has been the Bundesliga season so far. Almost implausibly, Dortmund languish third from bottom. Klopp must be an angry tourist. He roared at the fourth official and he berated his players when they erred. If Dortmund had been poor at the outset, it was a similar story at the beginning of the second half. With the onus on them, Klopp’s team pressed onto the front foot but Arsenal, and Sánchez in particular, simply revelled in picking them off.
Sánchez barrelled through to extend Weidenfeller with a low drive while Oxlade-Chamberlain, on his 100th appearance for the club, hit a marvellous looping shot from Sánchez’s pass that rattled the crossbar.
Not unusually, Sánchez provided the champagne moment. From Cazorla’s pass, he darted inside Piszczek to open up the shooting chance at the far corner. It has become his trademark and the bend on the right-footed shot from 20 yards was beautifully judged. Sánchez had his 13th goal for the club and Wenger was out of his seat, smiling broadly and pumping his fists. It was a night for him to enjoy.