Antony has defended his celebrations of Manchester United’s win over Coventry in the FA Cup semi-finals. The Red Devils squeezed past their Championship opponents on a penalty shoot-out. That led Antony to wheel away cupping his ear in front of the Sky Blue players. He insists he was provoked, while manager Erik ten Hag admits that the player “should not do it”. Manchester United forward Antony has moved to justify his celebrations after his side’s FA Cup semi-final win over Coventry City.
Erik ten Hag’s side beat their Championship opponents on penalties at Wembley on Sunday, after letting a 3-0 lead slip as the game finished 3-3 following extra-time.
Rasmus Hojlund scored the winning spot-kick after Callum O’Hare and Ben Sheaf had missed for the Sky Blues. Antony was criticised after being pictured cupping his ears in the direction of the Coventry players.
The Brazilian insists he was provoked into such a reaction by an unnamed Coventry player.
“Coventry proved why they reached the semi-final,” he wrote on X. “We seeked [sought] 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 defence of my club!”
The penalty shoot-out victory sets up a second successive all-Manchester affair in the FA Cup final, with United due to face rivals City, who beat Chelsea 1-0 in their last-four match. However, it has far from eased the pressure on manager Ten Hag, whose team have not won any of their last six matches within 90 minutes.
With the Red Devils in seventh place in the Premier League, 16 points off the top four, the Dutchman remains under intense scrutiny over his future.
And he has faced questions, about not only the way United celebrated the win over Coventry, but over Antony’s conduct as well.
He hit back: “He was [provoked] and should not react like this. You have not seen the provocation, only the reaction, but he should not do it. I’ve also seen Harry Maguire.
“We should acknowledge the performance of Coventry, coming back at 70 minutes when we dominated the game. The game must be closed, but the return from their side was very good.”