Andre Onana defends Man United team-mate Alejandro Garnacho; says he shouldn’t face punishment over his post about the goalkeeper which featured two gorilla emojis

Manchester United goalkeeper, Andre Onana has defended his team-mate Alejandro Garnacho over his social media post about the goalkeeper which featured two gorilla emojis. 

The FA are investigating Alejandro Garnacho after he used gorilla emojis in a social media post about his Manchester United teammate Andre Onana.

An image of United players celebrating with the Cameroon goalkeeper following his crucial late penalty save in the win over FC Copenhagen on Tuesday night appeared on Garnacho’s X account with the two emojis and was deleted after 15 minutes.

The FA have approached United to ask the 19-year-old Argentina winger for his observations before deciding whether it constitutes an aggravating factor under their rule Rule E3(1).

Onana took to social media on Thursday night to back his teammate, writing: ‘People cannot choose what I should be offended by. I know exactly what @agarnacho7 meant: power and strength. This matter should go no further.’

The FA could still take action, however, having banned Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva for one game and fined him £50,000 in 2019 for posting an image of a black cartoon character that they decided had referenced teammate Benjamin Mendy’s race.

United striker Edinson Cavani was also banned for three games and fined £100,000 the following year for referring to a friend in Uruguay as ‘negrito’ – which translates as ‘thanks little black’ – below a friend’s Instagram post. 

In his native Uruguay it is a term of endearment, and not in any way offensive, but Cavani still deleted the comment and pleaded guilty to the FA charge.  

In addition to his monetary and sporting punishments, Cavani was also made by the FA to undergo a two-hour face-to-face training course.

Twelve months earlier it was United’s neighbours Manchester City that fell foul of players’ social media rules when Silva picked up a one game ban.

The Portuguese was banned for a game and fined £50,000 for his Twitter post about then-team-mate Mendy.