Manchester United winger Antony has refused to apologise for his ear-cupping gesture towards Coventry City’s players after Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final victory. Antony has been widely criticised for his actions after Rasmus Hojlund’s winning penalty at Wembley saw United narrowly escape a humiliating defeat.
The 24-year-old replaced Alejandro Garnacho in the 66th minute as United cruised in a 3-0 lead through Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes’ goals.
Five minutes later, Ellis Simms made it 3-1. Callum O’Hare’s deflected strike and Haji Wright’s 95th-minute penalty incredibly forced the game into extra-time.
Antony made little impact during his hour on the pitch, firing none of his four shots on target and failing with one attempted take-on. He later didn’t step up to take a penalty in United’s 4-2 shootout win.
Most of Erik ten Hag’s players’ celebrations were muted, knowing they were fortunate to avoid being on the wrong end of one of the FA Cup’s greatest-ever shocks.
But Antony’s first instinct was to run in the direction of the disappointed Coventry players and cup his ears, a gesture blasted even by sections of the United fanbase, given his minimal impact.
But the Brazilian took to social media to double down on his reaction on Tuesday afternoon, insisting it was in response to a Coventry player disrespecting the United supporters.
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“Coventry proved why they reached the semi-final. We sought this spot in the final for our fans and we achieved,” Antony wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“The way our fans were treated by their player [Wright] was not nice, and I, in the heat of the moment, I’ve reacted to the provocations in a natural defence of my club!”
Antony appears to be referring to Haji Wright, who touched his ear and told the Red Devils’ support behind the goal to calm down after firing Coventry 1-0 ahead in the shootout.
Casemiro missed the first penalty with a botched panenka, but Diogo Dalot, Christian Eriksen, Bruno Fernandes, and Hojlund made no mistake.
O’Hare and Ben Sheaf missed after Wright and Victor Torp’s successful spot kicks, condemning the Sky Blues to defeat and confirming a second consecutive Manchester derby FA Cup final.
In his press conference earlier on Tuesday, Ten Hag also mentioned that Antony had been provoked but admitted his £86m man shouldn’t have reacted.
Ten Hag said: “He was [provoked] and should not react like this. You have not seen the provocation, only the reaction, but he should not do it.”
The Dutchman added that Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho were injury doubts for Wednesday’s Premier League match against Sheffield United. That will likely pave the way for Antony to earn a rare start at Old Trafford.
