Real Madrid defender Antonio Rudiger has claimed that the toughest forward he has ever faced is Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero.

The German international has had some notable battles with Erling Haaland over the past couple of years in the Champions League but, when asked whether the Norwegian was his most difficult opponent, Rudiger replied:

“Holy cow – Haaland is one of the strongest, no doubt. But if I could choose one, it would be Aguero. It’s not easy to control Haaland. He lives off passes from his teammates and, as I said before, you can’t control everything and players like De Bruyne and co. give him very dangerous passes.”

Rudiger certainly has a lot of experience going up against the best strikers, both during his time at Chelsea and Real Madrid, so his opinion shouldn’t be readily dismissed.

Aguero was a nightmare to deal with for any opposition team, and his scoring record for the Cityzens is a testament to that.

City’s all-time leading scorer

Over the course of his ten-year spell at the Etihad Stadium, Aguero racked up an incredible 260 goals in 390 appearances. He surpassed legend Eric Brook (177) to become the highest-scoring player in Man City history back in November 2017.

The Argentinian forward scored his 178th goal in a 4-2 win over Napoli during a Champions League group fixture, before hitting the back of the net 82 more times before his departure in 2021.

Haaland is well on course to matching Aguero

It took Aguero 264 games to surpass Brook’s record, with the forward averaging a goal every 1.48 matches before hitting that milestone.

Haaland, meanwhile, is currently scoring every 1.09 games, having bagged 83 goals in his first 91 appearances.  At this rate, he will match 260 goals if he plays 192 more times for the Cityzens.

There have been reports that Haaland could eventually end up joining Rudiger at Real Madrid but he seems perfectly happy in England at the moment.