Antony made headlines in Manchester United's 3-0 victory over FC Sheriff, following a needless 720 degree spin with a heavy pass out of play.
The Brazilian was substituted at halftime, but his Dutch manager Erik ten Hag claims it was not due to his showboating.
Antony performed a 720-degree spin before firing a heavy pass out of play for an FC Sheriff goal-kick. After the match, former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes described him as “being a clown” on BT Sport. Paul Scholes said:
“I’m not even sure it’s skill, is it? Could we [talking to Owen Hargreaves] do that?
“Is it his trademark? I think he needs a better one. He needs to find a more entertaining way.
“I don’t think this country likes to see that. Does any country, even Brazil? Brazil don’t want to see that, do they? Ajax, in Holland, do they want to see that?
“I like to see skill, but I just don’t think that is skill or entertainment. That is just being a clown, isn’t it?”
However, Erik ten Hag has denied taking Antony off at half-time because he was showboating. The Dutchman said:
“No. It was more or less planned if we were up,” he said, as United went into the end of the first half 1-0 up courtesy of Diogo Dalot.
“I wanted to see Marcus Rashford and Cristiano Ronaldo close together and the dynamic on the right side.”
He was pleased with the overall performance, saying:
“It was OK. Of course you hope you score in the first half hour so it took a bit long but we deserved that goal. “The second half we scored two more good goals from open play and I’m pleased with the clean sheet because we gave nothing away. It was a focused win.
“Our occupation of space in the box could still be done better, the second and third goals we did that well. We occupied positions and scored.”
