MANCHESTER CITY star Sergio Aguero was stopped from scoring against West Ham – by having his testicles grabbed.
With 21 minutes on the clock and the two teams tied at 0-0, Aguero found himself bursting through on goal having got the wrong side of Angelo Ogbonna.
This is the moment West Ham defender Angelo Ogbonna went ‘below the belt’ with his prevention tactics
Fans and pundits could not believe a penalty wasn’t givenCredit: Getty Images – Getty
With the West Ham centre-half trailing in his wake, it seemed likely the prolific marksman would open the scoring.
But Ogbonna had other ideas, and managed a clever reach-around to bring down his opponent.
And replays showed exactly how the Italian did this – by grabbing Aguero’s privates.
Incredibly no penalty was given despite the much-maligned VAR being consulted.
Sky Sports pundit Micah Richards couldn’t believe a spot-kick was not awarded.
PUNDITS LEFT STUNNED
The former Manchester City defender said: “When we looked at it, it looked like it was offside but as you see there it looks like he’s actually on-side.
“They should have checked it, that’s a problem, we’ve talked about VAR and the consistency. I think if that’s outside the box they give a foul there.”
His co-pundit Jamie Redknapp was in agreement that it was a foul and thinks Ogbonna should have seen red.
He added: “For me that is a foul and it could have been a red card.
“That’s sometimes where VAR is certainly the grey area that fans find difficult and there’s so much pressure on referees and linesmen to make the right decisions.
“It’s not always easy because they’re in a pressurised situation, VAR have got 10 seconds to look at it as well and we want to keep the game flowing.
“So I can see why they’ve got it wrong but for me that is a penalty.”
As stills of the incident did the rounds on social media, football fans were similarly astonished that a penalty was not given.
Jostein Wiig harked back to the time Vinnie Jones grabbed a load of Paul Gascoigne by writing on Twitter: “Ogbonna takes a Vinnie Jones on Aguero’s nuts.”
Another posted: “Ogbonna has a handful of Aguero’s meat”, while Ruben Dran was left wondering “what even is this game”.
Thankfully for Manchester City, goals from Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne saw them ease to a 2-0 win against a lethargic West Ham side.
Lat night’s incident brought back memories of Vinnie Jones and Gazza’s legendary clinch in 1988Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
