Sergio Aguero Will Not Face Any Penalty After Touching Female Referee During Premier League Match Against Arsenal

Manchester City striker, Sergio Aguero will not face any penalty from the football association after he touched assistant referee/lineswoman Sian Massey-Ellis during his side’s win against Arsenal.

On Saturday October 17, Aguero was caught on camera placing his hand on assistant referee Massey-Ellis’ shoulder during the first half of the game at the Etihad.

Touching a match official is usually punished by a yellow card, unless the physical approach is deemed aggressive in which case the player will be shown a red card. But Aguero’s actions went unpunished and he will not face any retrospective action over the incident.

As well as simply breaching the laws of the game by touching a match official, Aguero was also accused on Twitter of controlling her and exhibiting sexist behaviour due to the lineswoman’s gender.

Pep Guardiola later defended his player as ‘the nicest person he’s ever met in his life’.

The manager said of Aguero: “Come on guys. Sergio is the nicest person I ever met in my life. Look for problems in other situations, not in this one.”

However, former Premier League referee Mark Halsey said he thought Massey-Ellis handled the situation very well.

“Only Sian and Aguero know what went on in,” he told talkSPORT. 

“Sian felt there was no further action required, so maybe she thought ‘okay, there’s no problem, it’s part of the game’.

“If there was anything untoward or insulting language used or she felt something wasn’t right, then Sian would have called the referee over.”

Asked if she felt under pressure not to call the referee over given her gender, Halsey reiterated his belief that Messey-Ellis would not have been intimidated saying if she felt intimidated by Aguero then she would have brought it to the referee’s attention.

“I’ve worked with Sian on a few occasions and she’s an excellent assistant referee. There’s no doubt that if she had felt intimidated then she would have called the referee over and had Aguero either cautioned or dismissed from the field of play.” Halsey said