Sergio Aguero's Goal for Man City vs QPR Subject to Conspiracy Theory

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Sergio Aguero's legendary Premier League title winning goal has been subject to a conspiracy theory, with Wayne Rooney even believing it.

Sergio Aguero ’s legendary goal against Queens Park Rangers has become the subject of a conspiracy theory. That unforgettable moment when Manchester City won the Premier League title with a stoppage-time comeback crowned by the Argentine's goal is one of the greatest moments the league has ever seen.

And as the footballing community looked back on Aguero rippling the net at the Etihad Stadium, there were more than a few fans who posited some controversial theories about the iconic moment that issued the seven-time Premier League champions their first title.

Even Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney – whose side finished second thanks to the striker’s memorable finish late on against QPR – is under the impression that City’s Premier League triumph in 2011/12 was as a result of QPR’s questionable choices late on.

The moment looks all the more interesting now, with the Etihad outfit found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules between 2009 and 2018 . As a result, the title win could actually be stripped from Man City and handed to the Red Devils.

Martin Tyler has become something of a legend among Premier League circles for his memorable commentary over the years, but nothing beats this very moment – unless, of course, you favour the red side of a football-crazed Manchester.

> “Manchester City are still alive here. Balotelli… AGUEROOOOOO! I swear you’ll never see anything like this ever again.”

The thousands in the east of Manchester celebrated in jubilation as their Argentinian saviour made history in the infancy of their Saudi-owned years. Now immortalised outside the Etihad Stadium with a statue of his title-winning goal, he later became their all-time leading goalscorer.

As one of the greatest South American players to play in the Premier League , Aguero’s name will forever be stitched into the ever-growing club’s history – and forget his bucketload of goals, his shining moment against QPR will forever be remembered as the kick-start of an illustrious stint in England.

Mario Balotelli made 70 appearances in the Premier League, totalling 3944 minutes, but his only assist was the pass for Sergio Aguero’s match-winning goal.

As alluded to, the pot was even stirred by none other than Rooney , who was part of the Manchester United side that was dethroned by Aguero's goal on May 13, 2012. Speaking to The Sun, Rooney turned heads by suggesting goalkeeper Paddy Kenny and QPR, in general, “should have done better” .

The striker-turned-pundit, widely considered one of the greatest English forwards of all time, labelled the fact that QPR’s performance and, more importantly, the London side’s decision to kick it straight back to them has never been dissected as ‘strange’.

> "Paddy Kenny should have done better for a couple of the goals. City get the second goal and QPR kick it straight back to them and that's never been questioned - I find that strange. > > "Djibril Cisse celebrating after the game with the City players, but yeah listen it's a historic moment in the Premier League so I'm sure that - if you are not involved as a Manchester United player, that's probably one of the greatest moments in the league."

Rooney has since been quizzed further about Aguero’s goal as one brave Manchester City fan tried to poke fun at the former England marksman, who offered nothing but a stern face until he claimed that QPR were playing into the hands of the Citizens, who have gone on to dominate English football since.

> “Obviously, that was a tough one that. But, again, didn’t Paddy Kenny turn the ball in, I think two goals. QPR knew they were safe, City get it to 2-2, then they just boot the ball back to them.”

He then claimed that ex-Liverpool man Dijbril Cisse and two former Manchester City players – Nedum Onuoha and Shaun Wright-Phillips – were both on the pitch celebrating while Joey Barton was shown his marching orders.

> “Then they had [Dijbril] Cisse on the pitch, Joey Barton got sent off for acting stupid. Who else was it? Shaun Wright-Phillips and Nedum Onuoha on the pitch. That should’ve been looked into!”

The aforementioned Barton, who played his part in QPR's loss that day by receiving his marching orders for kneeing Aguero, also chimed in on the situation after a photo of Cisse supposedly celebrating with Manchester City's Samir Nasri as the full-time whistle blew and fans swarmed the pitch in utter jubilation. He wrote:

> "For what it's worth, I was in the tunnel fuming. And then set on the back of the coach on my own. No celebration."

All in all, it's fair to say that the conspiracy will remain just that: a conspiracy theory. Rooney’s claims will not change that moment that happened 12 years ago – and nor will it deface the statue of one of the greatest strikers in English top flight history , Aguero.

Incredibly, Rooney is not alone in thinking that there’s something fishy surrounding City’s last-ditch goal because the talk of QPR's behaviour after Edin Dzeko scored the equalising goal for Roberto Mancini's men has sparked a wider debate across social media.

In fact, footage of the moment in question has reared its head with the Rs - who also interestingly secured Premier League survival that day - lumping the ball out for a throw-in straight after kick-off.

Admittedly, it still took the Citizens another minute and a half to score the winning goal from that point onwards, but QPR’s bizarre decision to immediately concede possession of the ball didn't exactly do the hosts any harm. And there are plenty of fans pedalling the conspiracy theory on the back of seeing the footage, thus adding further fuel to Rooney’s initial claims, so be sure to judge the video for yourself, which you can watch in full below.

Look, there's something of a propensity among football fans to speculate that there is some sort of 'higher agenda' that goes on within the sport, benefiting certain teams and handicapping others. But as long as there is zero evidence of that being the case in relation to Aguero's winner, then it's hard not to think that supporters are seeing something that simply isn't there.

Yes, London club QPR didn't follow up their punt with a high press as is often the case, but their survival was almost assured at this point, and you can forgive them for dropping off in effort 93 minutes deep into a titanic tussle. Or can you?

Irrespective of whether it's forgivable or not, there are many people who have backed Rooney's claim of foul play – and none other than ex-Premier League referee Mike Dean is among those. Tasked with manning the whistle for City's title-winning match against the London club, he claimed certain aspects were "strange".

> "It was one of those games, as all the referees that week when the appointments came out, we all wanted that game. I couldn't believe I had the game, to get the game, the stakes and how it went. We always knew United were going to beat Sunderland, the way it transpired, we all thought City would win and it went the wrong way.

"What was strange about it, we allude to the end of the game but once QPR found out they were safe, I spoke to Clint Hill about it. Once they knew they were safe, Jamie Mackie is on the pitch celebrating while the game is going on." Dean continued, before admitting that alarm bells rang when QPR gave the ball away from kick-off.

> "They make it 2-2 and they just kick it back, and we were like, 'what's going on, why are they giving the ball back straightaway?' I said [that] in the ear piece."

"It was a strange one. To kick off and give the ball straight back to them. Neil Swarbrick, the fourth official, said, 'Keep switched on, something is going to happen.' You just knew something was going to happen. You could just tell," Dean continued. "But I still can't get my head around why they kicked the ball straight back, I just couldn't... I don't know."

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