Man United’s 3-0 win over Sheriff in the Europa League wasn’t just about Cristiano Ronaldo’s success on the scoreboard again. Antony was called a clown because he showed off his ‘360 turn’ skills which sparked controversy.
Man United confirmed the move to the knockout phase of the 2022-2023 Europa League thanks to a 3-0 win over FC Sheriff at Old Trafford Stadium, Friday (10/28/2022). Diogo Dalot (44′), Marcus Rashford (65′) and Cristiano Ronaldo (81′) scored Man United’s winning goals.
Ronaldo’s success in returning to the scoreboard after last weekend’s absence from the Man United squad clearly garnered a lot of attention. However, apart from Ronaldo, Man United’s winger, Antony, was also widely discussed after Group E of the 2022-2023 Europa League against the Sheriff.
Antony was highlighted for showing off his controversial spin skills in the first half of the Europa League match against the Sheriff, when the score was still 0-0. This action was shown by Antony when he was free and did not get any pressure from the Sheriff’s players. Some observers of British football, were not impressed by Antony’s action. Some thought that Antony did not show respect to his opponent.
“One round okay. The second …,” said former Man United player, Owen Hargreaves, who seemed lost for words while on duty as a pundit for BT Sport. “You need to have a skill with a function. If he does that around the opponent, I’ll jump off the chair. He traveled a very long way to be at Old Trafford and show off that skill. However, I would like to see him do that near the opponent,” said Hargreaves explained.
Another Man United legend, Paul Scholes, is tougher in expressing his opinion about Antony’s display of skills. In the eyes of Scholes, Antony’s attraction was not a beautiful Brazilian football demonstration, jogo bonito. “It’s not a skill or entertainment. He’s just a clown,” said Scholes quoted from the BBC.
After showing off the controversial spin, Antony was not given much time by his coach, Erik ten Hag, to express himself. Antony was replaced after the half-time between Man United vs Sheriff. He was withdrawn and replaced by Marcus Rashford who then doubled United’s advantage.
“No. It was more or less planned when we took the lead. I would like to see Marcus Rashford and Cristiano Ronaldo play closer and more because of the dynamic on the right wing,” Ten Hag said when asked if the decision to replace Antony was because he was annoyed with the Brazillian star’s showing off.
