Barcelona forward Sergio Aguero breaks down and announces retirement for health reasons
Barcelona, Dec 15: Fighting back tears, Barcelona striker Sergio Aguero announced his immediate retirement on Wednesday for health reasons.
The 33-year-old Argentina striker underwent heart tests after leaving the field, holding his chest, during Barcelona's match against Alaves in the Spanish league on October 30.
His condition has since been evaluated, and a sobbing Aguero said at a Camp Nou press conference attended by Barcelona players and board members, family and former colleagues that he had decided to stop playing.
"I'd like to stay here and keep helping my teammates," Aguero said, "but things happen for a reason."
Aguero said he made the decision 10 days ago. He was told after his first heart test that there was a big possibility he could not play again.
He took deep breaths and shook his head before making the announcement, then looked on in sadness as a highlight reel of his career highlights was shown on the screen.
Aguero is one of the world's most well-known players, having only joined Barcelona in the offseason after ending a 10-year stint at Manchester City during which he became a great of the English game.
Using his explosive movement and powerful shot, Aguero scored a club-record 260 goals for City and was a key player in the growth of the team as a major force in England and Europe. He had a record 12 hat tricks in his total haul of 184 Premier League goals, the most for an overseas player and the fourth most all-time.
He also scored arguably the Premier League's most famous goal, the dramatic stoppage-time winner against Queens Park Rangers that clinched the title for City on the final day of the 2011-12 season.
Aguero, who joined City from Atletico Madrid in 2011, struggled with injuries in his final two seasons at City and missed the start of his first season at Barcelona because of fitness issues. He only played in five games for the Catalan club.
For Argentina, Aguero scored 41 times in 97 matches putting him third on the national team's all-time scoring list after making his senior team debut in 2006. That came between two world titles for Argentina's youth teams.
Aguero's only major title with Argentina came at this year's edition of the Copa America, in which he barely featured, and he also won the Olympic gold medal in Beijing in 2008.
Aguero was one of the youngest players to make his debut in Argentina's top division, at the age of 15 for Independiente. He had spoken about potentially finishing his career at the Buenos Aires club.
"It's a very difficult moment ... it's for my health."
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 15, 2021
— @aguerosergiokun pic.twitter.com/DYBjqqSQf2
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Congress leader Harish Rawat files FIR against BJP over 'misinformation' campaign against him
Dehradun (PTI) Senior Congress leader and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Tuesday filed a police complaint here against the alleged misinformation campaign being carried out against him by BJP on social media.
Rawat, who reached the Nehru Colony police station with his supporters, handed over a written complaint along with a pen drive and other evidence to the police.
Based on this, an FIR was registered under relevant sections of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and relevant sections of law.
After filing the FIR, Rawat alleged that the police took four hours to register his complaint. He added that if it takes so long for a former CM to file an FIR, one can easily imagine the plight of a common man.
"Finally, after four hours, the police registered the FIR with trembling hands. Their hands were trembling because we have accused the BJP president and his associates, with factual evidence, of misusing AI to tarnish our and our party's image and trying to disrupt social harmony by targeting a particular community," Rawat said.
He expressed hope that after the registration of the FIR, the police would bring the culprits to justice.
Rawat also said, "Just imagine, if the police take so much time to register an FIR of a former CM, what will be the condition of a common man in this state?"
Later, he also handed over a copy of the FIR to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Dehradun and the SSP of the Special Task Force. Rawat also said that he would meet the District Magistrate of Dehradun and the State Election Officer with his complaint on Wednesday.
Recently, an AI-generated reel was uploaded on the official social media page of the BJP, which portrayed Rawat as a supporter of appeasement.
In the reel, a Congress leader is heard saying, "I take refuge in Muslims, I take refuge in dargahs (shrines), I take refuge in love jihad." The subsequent images show the construction of a dargah and some people smiling and talking about turning Devbhoomi (the land of gods) into a land of dargahs.
At the end of the reel, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is seen walking with police forces and bulldozers.
Rawat also claimed that another AI-generated video was uploaded from a 'fake' BJP platform, depicting him as a 'traitorous Pakistani agent' engaged in espionage. However, the BJP has denied any connection to this video.
