Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero’s Foul On West Ham’s Winston Reid ‘Brutal,’ Says FA Commission

The independent Football Association commission has ruled that Sergio Agüero’s elbowing of West Ham defender Winston Reid in the throat in a Premier League game in Manchester last month was “excessive in force and brutal.”

Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero’s Foul On West Ham’s Winston Reid ‘Brutal’

The commission also said that the aggressive foul, which came at Etihad Stadium on Aug. 28, “clearly endangered the safety” of Reid, a 28-year-old who is also captain of the New Zealand national team.

Aguero, a striker for Manchester City — who won that match 3-1 — earned a three-game suspension for the foul. The 29-year-old missed last weekend’s Manchester derby, and will also be unavailable for this month’s home games against Bournemouth (on Saturday, Sept. 17) and Swansea City (Sept. 21).

Although the foul against Reid was not initially seen by the referee, Andre Marriner, or by any other game officials when it happened, the hit was caught on video.

In its written reasons for the ban, all three members of the FA commission “unanimously felt that the video evidence before them was conclusive”.

“Indeed, even though the point of Mr. Aguero’s elbow did not connect with Mr. Reid, his flailing forearm did and this contact between forearm and throat/neck clearly hurt Mr. Reid,” the Commission’s added.

Manchester City contested the violent conduct charge on Aguero, arguing that “the standard punishment would be clearly excessive”.

The commission continued to precisely explain the severity of the foul, noting: “the clenched fist of Mr. Aguero as he threw his left elbow towards Mr. Reid, the upward angle of the movement and the force of the movement”.

Reid could not talk following the match, according to his captain Mark Noble, and had to be substituted.

“The commission could not see anything ‘truly exceptional’ about the incident,” said Stuart Ripley, the chair of the commission. “The incident was simply a ‘one v one’ tussle for the ball, such that is seen many times during any football match, whereby one of the players had used excessive force and brutality against the other.”

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – AUGUST 28: Sergio Aguero of Manchester City is challenged by Winston Reid of West Ham United during the Premier League match between Manchester City and West Ham United at Etihad Stadium on August 28, 2016 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Chris Brunskill/Getty Images)