EXCLUSIVE: One of the stars who almost denied Manchester City a landmark title has given his verdict on the 115 charges case

Armand Traore knows a brutal punishment for Manchester City for their 115 Premier League charges could end up benefitting his former club Arsenal. However, the former Senegal international was on the pitch for the most cathartic City moment between 2009 and 2018 and doesn’t think players should be punished for what happened off the pitch even if the club fail in their appeal.

Traore joined QPR from Arsenal during the 2011/12 season and started on the bench when the Londoners travelled to the Etihad Stadium on the final day of the campaign, coming on for the final half-hour after team-mate Joey Barton was sent off. The left-back almost derailed City’s title chances when his pinpoint cross set up Jamie Mackie to put the visitors in front, only for two of the most famous stoppage-time goals in Premier League history to deliver the title to Roberto Mancini’s side.

“When [Sergio] Aguero scored the goal, I have never heard so much noise anywhere, in any stadium,” Traore told MEN Sport. “When he scored, the stadium literally erupted. I had goosebumps.

"Considering everything that happened within the game, with Joey and then they had to win the league and man, it was just crazy. What a day this was."

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More than a decade on, City’s achievements under Mancini and his successors have come under the spotlight. The club have been found guilty of 114 breaches of financial regulation - with speculation over potential relegations or points deductions - but have mounted an appeal and continue to argue their innocence.

Traore, who has moved on from football and devoted himself to combat sports, is preparing to face former Premier League rival Sebastien Bassong in a charity boxing bout at A Night to Remember III this week. However, he still gets asked about the Aguero game.

It has come up again recently within the context of the independent commission’s verdict on City’s charges. However, he believes the title-winning players’ achievements against his QPR team can’t be taken away from them.

Traore is arguably in a unique position to pass judgement, too. He draws comparisons with the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final, where Senegal - the country for whom he played six times - beat Morocco in extra-time but later saw the result reversed because they'd walked out in normal time following a controversial penalty decision.

“A friend of mine asked me, ‘Now that you know about Man City, are you angry? How do you feel about it?’' And I was like, like, 'Dude, I really don't [feel angry].' It really doesn't bother me,” he added.

“To me, whoever cheated is the people that are on the board, the CEOs, and whoever deals with all these transfers and laws and all of that. The players, they just got bought by Man City but it's not their fault. They were asked to come and compete... And me, as an ex-player, I want to compete against the best.

“I understand the anger behind all the Man City stuff. Yeah, they're cheating, yes, of course. They have cheated. But I don't think that it should change the past. And it's not going to change the past.

“For me, it's a little bit like Senegal-Morocco at the AFCON final. Moroccans are saying it's going to go to Morocco because [the Senegal players] walked out and all that. We won on the pitch, the world saw, you cannot change that.”

More than half a decade has passed since Traore last kicked a ball in anger but he is ready to reignite another footballing rivalry in the ring. His bout against Bassong isn’t just a North London Derby battle but also a Senegal vs Cameroon match-up.

Friend and professional boxer Lee Anthony Sibley is helping the left-back get in shape for a match-up in which he will need to make the most of the speed he exerted on the pitch as he takes on a taller opponent. “Senegal and Cameroon… I would say it's as big as Arsenal and Tottenham. Probably bigger,” he said.

“This goes back from years and years of African Cup of Nations and whatnot. But Senegal and Cameroon, we're actually brothers, we all come from Africa. Yes, there's a little bit of playing up our rivalry within the game, but to me [personally] there's no rivalry, I'm friends with everybody,”