Piero Hincapie trolls Man City fans during Arsenal's wild title celebrations

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Evening Standard

·19 de mayo de 2026

Piero Hincapie trolls Man City fans during Arsenal's wild title celebrations

No more questions over Gunners’ bottle after 22-year wait for top-flight glory finally ends

Piero Hincapie seemingly had the last laugh at Manchester City fans after Arsenal won the Premier League title race.

City’s 1-1 draw in a must-win game away at high-flying Bournemouth on Tuesday night, which came after Arsenal had piled on the pressure with a 1-0 home win over relegated Burnley 24 hours earlier, saw the Gunners officially end their 22-year wait for top-flight success.

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The Carabao Cup and FA Cup holders can no longer hope to reel in Mikel Arteta’s leaders with their pursuit of a domestic treble now over, trailing by four points at the top of the table with only one round of games left to go this season.

It is widely expected that Pep Guardiola’s departure from the Etihad Stadium after a decade in charge will be confirmed before their last match of the season at home to Aston Villa on Sunday, with former Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca lined up to succeed him.

Arsenal’s players and staff gathered together on Tuesday evening to watch City’s meeting with Bournemouth at their Sobha Realty Training Centre in London Colney, where there were wild scenes of celebration after Erling Haaland’s stoppage-time goal to cancel out an earlier Eli Junior Kroupi strike failed to inspire a last-gasp turnaround to keep his side’s title ambitions from fizzling out.

Featured prominently in those memorable celebratory scenes was Gunners defender Hincapie, who has made a significant impact as a regular starter since moving to north London on loan from Bayer Leverkusen last summer and is expected to complete a permanent transfer to Arsenal in the coming weeks.

The Ecuador defender jumped for joy alongside his delighted team-mates after the final whistle at the Vitality Stadium amid a cacophony of sustained cheers and “champions” chants, but it is what he held in his hand that has since gone viral on social media.

Hincapie pretended to drink during the celebrations from a small Arsenal-branded water bottle, a clear response to the City fan who went viral himself for doing likewise in the stands during City’s 3-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on April 12, suggesting that Arsenal were firmly on their way to “bottling” the title.

That result came after Arsenal had suffered a shock home defeat by Bournemouth, with City cutting their title lead to six points with a game in hand ahead of their huge clash at the Etihad, which City won 2-1 before then going briefly top themselves after a win over Burnley.

However, Arsenal have since won four Premier League games in a row to fight back from that wobble and celebrate a title triumph for the first time since the famous ‘Invincibles’ side of 2003/04 under Arsene Wenger, with the Champions League final against holders Paris Saint-Germain to come in Budapest on May 30.