Fans shocked as young football supporter makes rude gesture to rival player

Fans were left shocked as a young and angry Aston Villa fan made a rude gesture towards a Crystal Palace player during the Carabao Cup clash at Villa Park.

Palace continued their mini revival following a dismal start to the season by beating high-flying Villa on Wednesday night to reach the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.

England star Eberechi Eze opened the scoring inside ten minutes, rising highest to nod home Daniel Munoz’s cross.

Aston Villa, playing in the Champions League this season, equalised midway through the first half through in-form Jhon Duran, who converted Leon Bailey’s cross.

Palace substitute Daichi Kamada, who replaced the injured Eze shortly after his first-half opener, scored the winner with half an hour remaining after latching onto a poor pass from Villa’s Diego Carlos.

Crystal Palace saw the game out relatively comfortably after restoring their lead but Colombian star Munoz risked the wrath of the home fans as he attempted to waste a few previous seconds in injury-time.

The 28-year-old tried in vain to keep the ball in play by the Aston Villa box but, with the ball clearly out, kicked it in the direction of the advertising hoardings.

But his strike hit a ball boy, sparking gasps from the Villa faithful and complaints from the players, including Tyrone Mings who confronted him after they went flying into the advertising boards.

To his credit, Munoz immediately approached the ball boy to apologise and the pair shared a heartwarming hug before Munoz also gestured an apology in the direction of the Aston Villa fans.

That was greeted by warm applause by the majority inside Villa Park but one young fan, sitting in the front row, was spotted giving Munoz the finger, or two, to be precise.

Crystal Palace went eight league games without a win at the start of the season but beat Tottenham at the weekend before knocking Aston Villa out of the Carabao Cup.

Oliver Glasner’s side have been drawn against Premier League title challengers Arsenal in the quarter-finals.

Following the win at Villa Park, Palace midfielder Will Hughes said: ‘It was good, I think, coming off the back of a much-needed win on Sunday [against Tottenham] in the league. It was good to carry that momentum.

‘We’ve said in the last couple of days that, especially today, that [win] means nothing if you don’t repeat that intensity and the energy.

‘The outcome can vary game to game, but as long as you keep those principles, you’ve got a good chance – and that happened.

‘We’re up for every game. It’s just been a slow start in the league and confidence drops, and then you start [getting] in your shell.

‘Thankfully, we needed that win to get people out of their shells and get us playing how we were at the end last season, and you can see that we were non-stop for 90 minutes, and deserved the win in the end.’

Aston Villa have enjoyed a brilliant start to the new season – climbing to fourth in the Premier League and sealing memorable wins over Bayern Munich, Young Boys and Bologna in the Champions League.

But Unai Emery was left ‘disappointed and frustrated’ as Villa’s Carabao Cup run was ended by a Crystal Palace side sitting 17th in the Premier League.

‘We started with 11 players in the first-team squad,’ Emery said. ‘We started with Tyrone Mings and Diego Carlos, they can play in the starting XI playing against Bayern Munich.

‘We started with [Ian] Maatsen and Kosta [Nedeljkovic]. We started with [Boubacar] Kamara, with John McGinn, Leon Bailey, Jaden Philogene, Jhon Duran, [Emiliano] Buendia, I don’t know if I can have some regret.

‘We are with our way, building the team, building the structure. Today we competed, but we lost.

‘Of course I am disappointed and frustrated, but we competed with the players to get the performance. If I am repeating this match 100 times I am playing with the same players.’

Crystal Palace return to Premier League action this weekend against Wolves, while Aston Villa travel to north London to face Tottenham.

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