One Direction star reacts to ‘vile’ moment involving Aston Villa favourite
Gabriel Agbonlahor was a fan favourite during his time at Aston Villa.
The Birmingham-born forward fired in 86 goals for the Villains during a 12-year stint at Villa Park, but he’s not covering himself in glory since retirement.
Agbonlahor is often accused of sharing outrageous and sensationalised opinions in his role as a pundit on TalkSPORT.
Now, One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson has jokingly asked for an apology over a “vile” incident that occurred between him and the former Villa star during a charity match.
One Direction star recalls ‘vile’ moment with former Aston Villa star
Tomlinson was being interviewed by talkSPORT about his preparations for the annual Soccer Aid charity match, which takes place this Sunday (15 June).
Host Andy Goldstein asked the singer to recall his memories about Agbonlahor injuring him during a charity match in 2013.
Tomlinson admitted that he was hurt for quite some time after a foul by the Villa man, which Goldstein branded as “vile” – his tongue firmly in his cheek.
He said: “I’d accept an apology in the form of a donation to Unicef. I think that’s the right thing to do.”
Agbonlahor plays the panto villain perfectly
Agbonlahor’s tackle is available to view on YouTube. It occurred in a fixture between Celtic XI vs Stiliyan Petrov XI to raise money for Petrov’s cancer charity. He was still a Premier League star at the time.
If you go and find it, you’d probably agree that it’s hyperbole to call it “vile”. It’s the type of foul you might see 50 times in a Premier League match.
| Appearances | Goals |
| 391 | 86 |
Agbonlahor was slaughtered on social media for the challenge at the time. One Direction has millions of loyal fans who will come for you if you do anything to harm one of their idols.
At the time, Agbonlahor apologised to Tomlinson, who was genuinely hurt.
In a way, that incident might have prepared him for his future as a talkSPORT pundit. In that role, it’s Agbonlahor’s job to have controversial opinions and rile up the listeners so they comment on social media.
And he does it better than most. As a perfect example of this, Agbonlahor recently threatened to quit supporting Aston Villa if a certain player signs for the club.
He’s the perfect media panto villain.