
Gabriel Agbonlahor says he received death threats from teenage girls after 'shoulder-barging' One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson.
Back in 2013, the former Aston Villa striker was involved in a charity matchĀ between a Celtic XI and aĀ Stiliyan PetrovĀ XIĀ at Parkhead, where some well-known celebrities and former footballers featured to represent The StiliyanĀ Petrov Foundation.
Petrov, who was forced to retire from football due to a battle with Leukaemia, was joined on the pitch by Roy Keane, Robert Pires, Chris Kamara and John Bishop, amongst many other big names, as they helped raised money for victims of the illness.
Petrov'sĀ team would claim a 5-3 victory against the Celtic XI after Dimitav Berbatov bagged a trademark hat-trick but in terms of incidents during the game, it was a heavy challenge on One Direction's Louis Tomlinson that is remembered most.
In the 52nd minute, Tomlinson picked up the ball on the outside of his area when, out of nowhere, the pacey Agbonlahor clattered into his opponent and sent him crashing to the ground.
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Around 60,000 supporters attended the charity game at Parkhead that day - and a large section of those were Tomlinson's fan base. You can actually hear the screams as he tumbled over.
Eight years later and Agbonlahor has revealed that former Celtic striker Henrik Larsson was fuming about the moment - and even asked him to apologise to Tomlinson after the full-time whistle.
He reflected on the incident in a recent chat with talkSPORT, saying: āIt was a game for Petrovās charity. It was just a normal shoulder barge and because heād been drinking the night before in the hotel he was a bit hungover.
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āHe was sick on the side of the pitch andĀ Martin OāNeillĀ wasnāt happy. After the game I got a telling off of Henrik Larsson.
"He was like āyou have to apologise, come on. You donāt do thatā.
āI was like āsorry mate I didnāt mean toā. It was a charity game yes but you donāt lose that edge do you?
āHe wasnāt happy and I was like ācalm down Henrik'."
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He continued: āI was getting death threats off teenage girls. They were going āhow dare you touch my Louis Tomlinsonā and I was just like āget me out of hereā. [I was off to] Glasgow Airport, [thinking] let me escape in one piece.ā
Topics:Ā Celtic, Aston Villa, Premier League, Scottish Premiership