Argentine footballer Sergio Aguero has found himself amid controversy as he was seen touching the lineswoman during Saturday’s Premier League game between Manchester City and Arsenal. The Manchester City striker, right before half time when they were already leading by 1-0 from a 23rd-minute goal scored by Raheem Sterling, went up to the lineswoman Sian Massey-Ellis and touched her shoulder during an argument.
Massey-Ellis, who was in complete refusal of Aguero’s claims of signalling a throw-in for Manchester City instead of Arsenal, immediately reacted to the ‘patronizing’ act pulled the striker and knocked his hand off of her.
Watch the video here:
This isn’t cool pic.twitter.com/ftcviJHgdo
— gunnerblog (@gunnerblog) October 17, 2020
According to the laws in the sport: Any physical contact with a referee or a linesman will mean either a yellow or a red depending on its severity, as will abusing them verbally or reacting aggressively to decisions. And one player will be booked if two or more surround an official or confront them face to face.
Twitter, as an outcry to the incident, called it out to be ‘Disgraceful, unprofessional, patronising’. However, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has defended Sergio Aguero brushed the incident aside.
“Come on guys. Sergio is the nicest person I ever met in my life. Look for problems in other situations, not in this one,” the Man City manager told reporters.
However, Twitter went on to condemn the act of a footballer touching the lineswoman over a small disagreement. In fact, the social media platform was broken into two different opinions over the incident. While some called it an act of patronising, some ridiculously called football a man’s game and asked women to stay away from it.
Here are a few tweets to encapsulate the varied reactions to the incident:
Disgraceful, unprofessional, patronising. https://t.co/VAswEDwvhe
— Suzy Wrack (@SuzyWrack) October 17, 2020
can’t believe people are defending him not getting sent off pic.twitter.com/dg9vheypkI
— Sebastian Stefanovic (@Sebanovic) October 17, 2020
If that lineman was a bloke it would have played out in one of two ways
1) he wouldn’t have done it
2) he would’ve been booked for doing it“Females shouldn’t be involved”, it’s 2020 mate. Keep up.
— Gareth (@ErfinderRotwang) October 17, 2020
Also, what is Sergio Aguero doing here? Not acceptable. Yet not a peep out of anyone. Handling an official is a yellow card offence, but handling a female official in such a patronising manner is just downright scummy. pic.twitter.com/gdrC34dEx2
— GoonerTalk (@GoonerTaIk) October 17, 2020