Those who defend the Manchester City striker’s grabbing of the official are blind to the context that makes it indefensible

After Sergio Agüero had vented his frustrations at Sian Massey-Ellis for not awarding a throw-in in the 41st minute of Manchester City’s 1-0 win against Arsenal on Saturday, the official walked away. Agüero then reached out and grabbed the base of the 35-year-old’s neck. Eyes firmly forward, Massey-Ellis flinched out of his touch and brushed it off.

It was over in a flash. But social media exploded. Clips of the incident went viral. I was one of those to watch, cringe and tweet – “Disgraceful, unprofessional and patronising.” Within 24 hours my post had 8,800 likes, 716 retweets and 236 comments.

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