TONE DEAF
Premier League’s ‘most disliked player’ joins condemnation of Man Utd ace Antony as he says ‘not even I would do this’
'Most disliked player' has a reputation for winding up opponents
NEAL MAUPAY, who dubbed himself the Premier League’s “most disliked player”, has slammed Manchester United flop Antony for his antics against Coventry City.
The Red Devils narrowly avoided a major upset as they snuck into the FA Cup final on penalties.
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United were leading 3-0 before Coventry scored three of their own to send the game to extra time.
The Championship outfit then netted a dramatic 120th winner, only for VAR to controversially rule it out for offside.
United then went on to win the shootout, despite Casemiro missing their very first effort.
Rasmus Hojlund netted the decisive penalty but was left hanging after initially celebrating wildly with fans.
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And despite almost all of United’s players appearing to look highly embarrassed by their performance, Antony also decided to toast the moment.
As his teammates remained still, with some of them going to shake the hands of Coventry’s brave battlers, Antony got other ideas.
He instead sprinted towards Hojlund, who was already at the advertising boards with United supporters.
As Antony charged, he turned around to Coventry’s broken-hearted stars and unbelievably cupped his ears to rub their faces in the defeat.
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Antony’s unsporting conduct was roundly condemned by fans and pundits alike, especially after such a dismal performance from the Brazilian and his United pals.
Now, even the Premier League’s No1 wind-up merchant Maupay has declared it was a step too far.
The Brentford striker, on loan from Everton, has clashed with numerous players this season.
His antics on the field saw Maupay crown himself the league’s “most disliked footballer.”
The Frenchman clashed with James Maddison by copying the Tottenham star’s celebration, with Richarlison also getting involved.
And Maupay also collided with Kyle Walker, with the Man City star threatening to “knock him out.”
But even he wouldn’t have stooped so low to celebrate a win like Antony did under the circumstances.
Taking to social media, while posting a clip of Antony’s reaction, Maupay 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.
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