It’s been a season to forget for Manchester United, and they’ve now had another nightmare moment.
Trailing 1-0 to rock bottom Southampton at Old Trafford, the Premier League giants – who sat 15th in the table at the time – looked destined to draw level as a flowing move saw Alejandro Garnacho square for £82m man Antony to touch into the empty net. But the Brazilian attacker instead crumpled to the turf with the goal at his mercy, with the ball bouncing off his leg and into the grateful clutches of Saints’ on loan Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale.
Commentator Darren Fletcher, covering the game for BT Sport, exclaimed: “That was the chance. That was the chance for Antony, I cannot believe that he’s missed it.” Shocked co-commentator Ally McCoist agreed, with the Rangers hero stuttering over his words as he said: “Neither can I frankly. I actually cannot believe he’s missed this. I don’t even know why he goes to ground. Why’s he going to ground? Just knock it in. Why, why, why do you go down? The ball across is perfect. Why are you falling to the ground there? Just knock the ball into the back of the net, that’s unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.
“Do you understand what I’m trying to say?” Fletcher replied by labelling the miss “astonishing” and added: “I understand Ally, I can’t help you. What I do know is that it’s the best opportunity that Manchester United have had by a long way.” McCoist then chipped back in saying: “That’s a sitter, it’s an absolute sitter.”
Ex-Rangers loanee Amad Diallo would go on to grab a late hat-trick for the Red Devils to turn the game around late on, whilst Antony continues to look like another expensive blunder from the club’s recruitment team – having registered just 12 goals and 5 assists in almost 100 games for the club since joining from Ajax. And he was panned by supporters on social media, with one saying: “Every time I see Antony in a United shirt, just reminds me of we could’ve got Gakpo for half of his price if not cheaper but we opted not to”. Another said: “They say Antony is Brazilian, right?”