Aguero escapes ban for Luiz lunge

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero will face no action for his two-footed challenge on Chelsea defender David Luiz.

The FA yesterday confirmed the Argentina striker will not be charged retrospectively for the incident in Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

It follows confirmation referee Chris Foy had at least seen part of the incident and acted on it during the match — Chelsea were awarded a free-kick.

Both of Aguero’s boots made contact with the upper part of Luiz’s left leg but under current FA rules only off-the-ball incidents or those viewed as “exceptional” — which would, for example, warrant more than a three-match ban — are dealt with retrospectively.

There was an outcry when the FA took a similar view on Wigan’s Callum McManaman after his studs-up challenge on Newcastle’s Massadio Haidara, who was carried from the field on a stretcher, last month.

This was slightly different in that, unlike Haidara, Luiz suffered no serious harm and played on until the end of the match — but the Chelsea man himself has called on Aguero to apologise.

Luiz said: “Aguero is a great player but he needs to be honest with himself and say, ‘I don’t like to do bad tackles’.

“Kids see the game and they want to see the good things and not the bad — I would apologise. Football is beautiful, but sometimes in games people have five seconds like that — I forgive him because I have a good heart. I don’t like to beat people.

“Sometimes in a game people have five seconds when they are angry and do things they don’t like to do. I think it was that.

“I never saw Aguero do a bad tackle on other players.”

Luiz is optimistic Chelsea will swiftly overcome the pain of relinquishing their hold on the FA Cup and refocus on securing Champions League qualification.

Seven trophy chances have now passed by for Chelsea this season after Sunday’s 2-1 defeat.

An eighth and final chance remains in the Europa League, where they meet Tottenham’s conquerors Basle in the last four.

Chelsea face crucial matches in the Premier League prior to the trip to Switzerland, beginning with tomorrow night’s west London derby at Fulham, as they seek to secure a top-four spot and a return to the Champions League they won last May in Munich.

Luiz believes overcoming the disappointment of defeat will not be too challenging and takes confidence from Chelsea’s second-half resurgence at Wembley, which was too little and too late to halt City.

“It’s not difficult,” the Brazil defender said.

“You need to take positive things. For us it was a great game. In the second half we controlled the game, we controlled one big team and created a lot of opportunities.

“In the future we have confidence. I’m always positive.

“We have important games in the future. We need to win. We need to be in the best position in the league and win the Europa League.”

For his part, midfielder Gareth Barry believes trophyless years should now be the exception rather than the norm at Manchester City.

Sunday’s win saw City move within a game of claiming a third major piece of silverware in three years.

Victory over Wigan in the FA Cup final next month would earn the club considerable consolation after a disappointing title defence in the Premier League and a failure to make an impression in Europe.

Barry said: “We knew this was the realistic chance of a trophy this year.

“Where the club is now, you don’t really want seasons going past without winning a trophy.

“The FA Cup is a massive one. If we can win that, fantastic.

“Wembley is a fantastic place to come and play. The big players, as we have seen over the last few years, when we come to semi-finals and finals, they generally turn up and do the business.

“Hopefully they can continue that until the final.”