SUMMARY
- Manchester United star Antony cupped his ears after the FA Cup semi-final win against Coventry City.
- However, the United star's antics did not go down well with the former players covering the game.
Manchester United’s win against Coventry City in the FA Cup 23/24 semi-final against Coventry City hasn’t been received pretty well by the soccer community. ‘The Red Devils’ were embarrassed by a late flurry of goals by the mid-table Championship side, as United blew away a three-goal lead.
Coventry City miraculously took the semi-final into the penalties, where unfortunately for them, Man Utd. emerged victorious. Even then, many of the Manchester United players didn’t celebrate out of sheer embarrassment.
🗣️ Khalid Boulahrouz: “What Antony did is pathetic. You have been bought for €100M and play every game with sh*t in your pants. 0 goals & 1 assist this season.
If I was teammate I would have told him he should be ashamed of himself.” pic.twitter.com/X6pM8p7Sjd
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) April 23, 2024
However, Antony was exceptional in this case, as the Brazilian went on to cup his ears in front of the disappointed Coventry City players. This extravagant celebration has, however, been termed unnecessary by many soccer pundits, who are fuming over the Brazilian’s action.
One such person is a former Chelsea player Khalid Boulahrouz who believes that Antony should be embarrassed for how he celebrated Manchester United’s win. Khalid said that the Brazilian doesn’t deserve to celebrate in that way considering how poor he has been in England since his big-money transfer in 2022.
The Dutchman said, “What Antony did is pathetic. You have been bought for €100M and play every game with sh*t in your pants. 0 goals & 1 assist this season.” Khalid also declared that he would have definitely confronted Antony after the game if the Brazilian were his teammate. However, the Dutchman isn’t the only one who’s disgusted by the Man Utd player’s antics.
Former Aston Villa striker calls Antony a prat for his over-the-top celebrations
Gabby Agbonlahor, who is the joint all-time scorer of Aston Villa, had the same thing to say about Antony’s controversial celebration. The 37-year-old believes that Antony is the biggest ‘shameless flop’ who has played in the Premier League. Gabby would rather want Antony to inculcate the habit of showing humility towards his opponents.
He wrote on social media (via The Daily Mail), “Antony cups his ears as he celebrates in front of Coventry players? Is this guy the most shameless flop ever to grace our beautiful league? Shame on you Antony, you wouldn’t even start for Coventry you prat.”
My God. No Celebration Police punishment could ever be big enough for Antony here. What a prick 🤦🏼♂️ pic.twitter.com/mf7JULWDH6
— 🚨The Celebration Police🚨 (@PLCPolice) April 21, 2024
The Brazilian should have thought twice before making those taunts in the face of the Coventry City players. The Championship side’s players showed extreme determination and perseverance to come back in the game and force a penalty shootout. Under such circumstances, the Brazilian should have instead congratulated the losing team for their tireless attitude. However, later Erik ten Hag clarified that Antony was provoked by Coventry players.
Roy Keane believes that Manchester United were lucky against Coventry City
Even the former Manchester United captain, Roy Keane, too was not at all happy with the team’s performance in the FA Cup semi-final. Roy Keane noticed that many of the United players except Antony did not even care to celebrate after the victory in the penalty shootout. The Irishman believes the reason is that the players were embarrassed by the way they had played against a Championship side.
Roy Keane said, “Some of the United players and supporters weren’t going over the top with the celebrations. They were almost embarrassed to win at the end.” The former Sunderland manager also believes that there is no leadership and character in the English club which angers him.
The Irishman declared that Manchester United were lucky to come up with a win against Coventry City. He said, “My goodness, they rode their luck today.”
Manchester United will now face their cross-city rivals, Manchester City in the final. The match will certainly be an arduous task as ‘The Cityzens’ are also the reigning champions of the competition. Man Utd, therefore, cannot be lazy with their attitude in the final as they were against Coventry, if ‘The Red Devils’ plan to avoid yet another trophyless season.