WESLEY SNEIJDER says Antony should be “embarrassed” over his Coventry antics and now wants Manchester United to get hammered in the final.
The shock incident came as the Red Devils narrowly avoided disaster and beat the Sky Blues on penalties to set-up a showdown with Man City in the FA Cup Final.
That came after the Championship side fought back from 3-0 down to take it to extra-time and then having a late strike ruled out for offside to deny them a famous victory.
Antony had been brought on just before Coventry’s first goal, and he did not step up once the match came to the shootout after Victor Torp’s 120th-minute strike was disallowed due to an offside in the build-up.
Callum O’Hare had a penalty saved and Ben Sheaf fired over the crossbar, allowing Rasmus Hojlund to step-up and convert to win the shoot-out.
However, viewers were disgusted to see Antony cupping his hands to his ears in the direction of the Coventry players after the final kick.
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The £85million man’s actions were put to manager Erik ten Hag during his pre-match press conference on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s visit of Sheffield United.
And the Dutchman sensationally DEFENDED his player’s actions.
Antony, meanwhile, sensationally claimed he cupped his hands to his ears in response to the actions of some Sky Blues stars during the shootout.
He wrote on X: “Coventry proved why they reached the semi-final.
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“We seeked this spot in the final for our fans and we achieved.
“The way our fans were treated by their player was not nice and I, in the heat of the moment, I’ve reacted to the provocations in a natural defense of my club!”
Antony later deleted the post.
But the incident caught the attention of Dutch legend Sneijder – and he was quick to stick the boot in.
He told Ziggo Sport: “Antony should be absolutely embarrassed for what he did.
“He should have walked straight off the pitch instead of doing that. I hope Manchester United lose 5-0 in the final.”
And even the Premier League’s “most disliked player” has slammed Antony for his antics.
Brentford’s wind-up merchant Neal Maupay declared it was a step too far.
Posting a clip of Antony’s reaction, the forward said: “Just for the record, not even I would do this.”
Our beautiful game is broken
By Dave Kidd
When Manchester United got lucky in their FA Cup semi-final, Antony’s first instinct was to goad heartbroken opponents Coventry. To rub their noses in the dirt.
Antony seems to be a vile individual but this isn’t really about Antony. Because Antony is merely a symptom of the hideous sickness within England’s top flight.
There is so much wrong.
After our elite clubs persuaded the FA to completely scrap Cup replays — which gave us Ronnie Radford and Ricky Villa and Ryan Giggs — without due recompense or reasoning with the rest of English football.
The previous day, after his Manchester City side had defeated Chelsea in the other FA Cup semi-final, Pep Guardiola whinged about the fixture scheduling of TV companies who effectively pay much of his £20m salary.
Up at Wolves, Guardiola’s friend and rival Mikel Arteta was playing the same sad song about fixture congestion, despite his Arsenal side having played two fewer games this season than Coventry — who don’t have £50m squad players to rotate with.
Chelsea, oh Chelsea. The one-time plaything of a Russian oligarch now owned by financially incontinent venture capitalists who have piddled £1billion on a squad of players who fight like weasels in a sack about who should bask in the personal glory of scoring the penalty that puts them 5-0 up against Everton.
Read Dave Kidd’s full column as he takes aim at Nottingham Forest, Fulham’s ticket prices, the 39th game, VAR and much more…
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
