ANTONY has broken his silence on his controversial FA Cup semi-final celebration in a now-deleted tweet.
The Brazilian drew the ire of footie fans around the world for his antics after Manchester United’s shootout victory over Championship outfit Coventry City.
And he’s sensationally claimed he cupped his hands to his ears after Rasmus Hojlund’s winning pen 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.
“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!”
READ MORE IN FOOTBALL
Antony seemingly bottled the staunch defense of his actions, hastily deleting the post.
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.
Initially deflecting by pointing towards the response of Harry Maguire, who graciously went over to shake the Coventry players’ hands, Ten Hag said: “Did you see the reaction of Harry Maguire?”
Most read in Football
BEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKER
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…
Then addressing Antony’s actions, he added: “He was provocated [provoked].
“That’s why this was a reaction of that, you haven’t seen the provocation, only the reaction.
“But he should not do it.”
“I have seen Harry Maguire straight after and others, we should acknowledge the performance of Coventry coming to that final and the comeback.”
Antony’s antics were lambasted by several former and current pros, including Brentford‘s Neal Maupay.
Maupay, who has branded himself the Premier League’s “most disliked player” took to social media to share a clip of Antony’s post-match antics.
His accompanying caption read: “Just for the record, not even I would do this.”
United booked their place in next month’s final at Wembley with a narrow 4-2 shootout victory over the Championship play-off hopefuls.
Ten Hag’s troops threw away a THREE-GOAL lead in the second half and escaped major embarrassment when Victor Torp’s extra-time strike was ruled out for offside.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
The former Ajax boss said of the near-fatal collapse: “We are 70 mins totally dominating the game by far.
“And 3-0 must have been the game is closed. But the return from their side was very good.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
