I got arrested and charged at Bournemouth vs Man City - Sergio Aguero came to my rescue

Back in August 2017, Manchester City fans were celebrating one of the best things any football supporter can: a last-minute winner.

Raheem Sterling lashed the ball into the back of the net in the sunny August sunshine on the south coast to send the away end wild. Too wild for one young fan, who had got up to get ready to leave with the game at 1-1 but instead found himself pushed onto the pitch as City fans surged towards the field of play to celebrate with the players in the corner.

Before he knew it, Zack Weir, 20 at the time, found himself face down on the pitch as stewards held him down and police officers yanked his arms behind his back to handcuff him. In front of his nose, he could see white boots - the white boots of Sergio Aguero remonstrating over his treatment.

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Bournemouth quickly put a statement out to confirm a steward was withdrawing claims that Aguero had assaulted them, but Weir's problems were not going away. He was taken to a local police cell where he was held without being questioned and his one phone call was to his parents, who were expecting the call having seen their son arrested live on television.

"They didn't interview me or ask me what happened, after three or four hours they took me to the front of the station and charged me. I had to make my way home so I flew home because that was the quickest way but there was no questioning or interrogation or recorded statement," Weir tells the Manchester Evening News.

"I had to appear in court a month later. That got extended because they hadn't reviewed the evidence. I went down a couple of times and then on Valentines Day in 2018 it went to court and they withdrew the evidence against me.

"I was in the process of applying to live in America for my year abroad and you have to declare all that kind of stuff on your visa. I was always confident that nothing would happen but until I was cleared the next year of my life and the following September was up in the air.

"The biggest problem was the distance Bournemouth was from Manchester. Going to court in Manchester would have been very quick but Bournemouth is an overnight stay and a flight or a long drive.

"Those things made it very traumatic, and then psychologically the lasting effects of the assault were difficult. The impact on my family was very difficult also. Now we've come through it it's a story to look back on but at the time it was more challenging than people realised."

One thing Weir had throughout was the help of his hero Aguero. The Argentine striker went above and beyond on the pitch to defend what he saw as an injustice and then sent messages afterwards in support.

“I saw that they had got hold of one of our fans, four against one," he later said in the book Pep's City.

“Then this cop starts giving me a hard time, so I tell him to f*** off. Nothing more serious than that.

“It’s the way I grew up and I can’t help reacting like that. Back home there’s a code: if there’s a fight and it’s one on one, you stay out of it, but when it’s one against four … That’s how I grew up and it’s something I still live by.”

Weir says that he makes sure he is further back in the crowd these days but the experience has not stopped him following City and he will be back at Bournemouth on Saturday, bearing no ill-feeling towards the club. Having come through a difficult six months to ensure he didn't end up with a criminal record, he also got to thank Aguero personally at a chance meeting years later.

"There was some stuff exchanged on social media and then at the end of Covid when he left City my dad was out in a restaurant near Manchester Airport and told me to come down because he was back-to-back with Sergio Aguero," he said. "Aguero was with his girlfriend and I didn't want to intrude but I worked up the courage to speak to him and I think it was a big deal for him.

"I was so grateful because without him I could maybe have been punished. I spoke to him for about 15-20 minutes and he said again how bad my treatment was. He actually took a photo of us on his own phone so if he's still got the same phone Sergio has got a picture of me and him on his phone!

"It's a long time ago now and I've dealt with any negativity that surrounded it. There are a few jokes that go on about it and Bournemouth is a very friendly club. There's no hostility so there's no reason for me to feel that way again.

"Obviously I think about what happened and I make sure I'm further back in the crowd but I don't have any bad feelings towards the clubs because I've dealt with it."