Wigan Athletic Stun 10-man Manchester City
Third-tier Wigan Athletic lived up to the billing as Manchester City’s bogey team by beating the 10-man Premier League leaders 1-0 in a stunning FA Cup fifth round upset on Monday.
Will Grigg coolly slotted home the winner in the 79th minute to trigger chants of “Will Grigg’s on fire” around the DW Stadium. The defeat ended City’s hopes of an unprecedented quadruple of trophies this season. On a night of stirring memories for the home fans, whose side beat City in the 2013 FA Cup final and in the quarter-finals a year later, there was always the hint of an upset in the air.
Fans spilled onto the pitch at DW Stadium as the hosts celebrated their victory, with supporters from both clubs involved in disturbances.
Television pictures appeared to show a home supporter and City striker Sergio Aguero involved in a physical exchange. Aguero appeared to hit the supporter after the fan said something to the player, and Aguero had to be held back by his City teammates. Advertising hoardings were also ripped out and thrown as a pitch invasion by Wigan fans got out of hand while the defeated City players were being escorted off the pitch. The wild scenes followed a fiery match, during which City manager Pep Guardiola and Wigan counterpart Paul Cook got involved in a heated dispute in the wake of Fabian Delph’s controversial red card on the stroke of half-time.
City played the entire second half with 10 men after midfielder Delph was sent off in the 45th minute for a late challenge on Max Power.
That only increased when referee Anthony Taylor, a yellow card already in his hand, reached for the red.
Delph looked stunned, his angry teammates swarming around the official, while manager Guardiola seethed on the touchline. The Spaniard, already frustrated by his side’s failure to break through the home side’s sturdy defence, had to be kept apart from Cook as they headed down the tunnel at the break.
Guardiola reacted to the setback by bringing on versatile right back Kyle Walker for winger Leroy Sane at the start of the second half.
He then introduced midfielder Kevin De Bruyne in place of David Silva in the 65th, with the Belgian immediately piling the pressure on Wigan’s defence.