Onana breaks silence as Garnacho faces FA probe over social media post
Onana breaks silence as Garnacho faces FA probe over social media post
Published By: Michael Adesina
Andre Onana has defender his teammate Alejandro Garnacho after the controversy that has erupted because of a social media post in which Garnacho used gorilla emojis in relation to a picture of his penalty save.
The Argentina international had earlier uploaded an image of both himself and Onana, alongside other United team-mates but the teenage winger added two gorilla emojis on to the picture.
The picture was of the Red Devils players celebrating the Cameroon international’s last-minute spot-kick save against Copenhagen on Tuesday night.
Garnacho soon deleted the post from his profile once he was made aware of the potential racial connotations involved, but the FA have since requested his observations on it via United. There is a chance the governing body could still charge the wide-forward with a breach of their guidelines around racially sensitive social media posts.
If the former Atletico Madrid prospect was to fall foul of FA guidlines, it would not mark the first time a United player has been punished for such a rule breach.
Edinson Cavani was slapped with a three game ban in 2020 after he wrote ‘Gracias Negrito’ to a friend who had congratulated him for scoring a goal on his Instagram story.
Since news of Garnacho’s potential punishment broke, Onana has broken his silence on the matter by taking to social media to defend his team-mate.
- Ten Hag heaps praises on much-maligned Maguire, Onana after Champions league win
- My start in Manchester has not been good: Andre Onana speaks
- PGMOL’s Jon Moss apologised, told me Onana’s challenge was ‘blatant penalty’ – Gary O’Neil
The United goalkeeper uploaded the same snap, alongside a caption that read: “People cannot choose what I should be offended by. I know exactly what @garnacho7 meant: power and strength. This matter should go no further.”
Like Garnacho, Cavani was quick to delete his post and soon apologised. The Uruguay ace added that the message “was intended as an affectionate greeting to a friend” when expressing his regret.
Regardless, Cavani was still met with an FA charge, fined £100,000 and made to complete face-to-face education around the issue. The post made by the former United striker was deemed insulting, abusive, improper and brought the game into disrepute.
The game’s governing body explained that the post was an “aggravated breach” due to the fact that it “included reference, whether expressed or implied, to colour and/or race and/or ethnic origin.”
Four years ago, Manchester City ace Bernardo Silva was also banned for one game and fined £50,000 by the FA for his post about then-Etihad team-mate Benjamin Mendy.
The Portugal international compared his former colleague with an image from Spanish company Conguitos, which had previously been criticised for racial undertones.
Much like Cavani, Silva’s punishment came in the form of an FA charge and a one-game ban. Mendy did reply to the post with laughing emojis befor the City midfielder deleted it from his profile.
