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 tearful Aguero said at a press conference at Camp Nou that he had decided to stop playing.
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“I’ve always known that I’d give it all to have a chance to play again,” Aguero said.
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“However, after the last exams, I was advised by my doctors to cease practicing professional football. Their words were sufficient to make a choice. Retiring under these circumstances is difficult, but life comes first – I’ve known that from the start.
“One of the many things that football taught me is that you can turn defeat into victory. This won’t be any different. It’s surely painful – but it’s no tragedy. A tragedy would have been another thing altogether.
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“My thoughts are not on the time I could have played on, they are on the wonderful 18 years I did get to play.”
Aguero is one of the world’s most well-known players, having only joined Barcelona in the off-season after ending a 10-year stint at Manchester City during which he became a great of the English game.
The diminutive striker’s professional career began way back in 2003 when he made his debut as a 15-year-old for Argentinian side Independiente.
After 23 goals in 56 appearances, Aguero was signed by Atletico Madrid for a then club-record fee of €20 million in 2006. Aguero would spend five seasons with the club, scoring 101 goals in 234 games.
However, he truly blossomed after arriving at Manchester City in 2011 for a reported fee of £35 million, one that he wound up repaying in spades.
His first match for the club, where he scored a brace and set up another goal after coming on as a substitute against Swansea City, was lauded as one of the best debuts in English Premier League history.
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Aguero’s most iconic moment came at the end of his debut season for the club, when he fired City to its first Premier League title in 44 years with a game-winning goal in stoppage time on the final day of the season.
After scoring 23 EPL goals in his debut season, Aguero would leave City as the all-time leading international goalscorer, having netted 184 times in 275 Premier League appearances, surpassing French icon Thierry Henry.
He is fourth all-time on the EPL goalscoring chart behind Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and Andy Cole.
Aguero retires as a five-time English Premier League champion, and a six-time EFL Cup winner.