Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho could be facing a ban over his deleted post on X about Andre Onana.
The Cameroon international was United’s saviour on Tuesday evening as his penalty save in injury time ensured Erik ten Hag’s side sealed a vital 1-0 victory over FC Copenhagen in the Champions League.
Garnacho was one of several United players to pay tribute to Onana’s heroics on social media, however, the 19-year-old deleted his post on X after he used two gorilla emojis alongside a picture of himself celebrating with the goalkeeper.
The Argentina international initially edited the original post to remove the two gorilla emojis and left the image on his timeline before it was deleted altogether.
The post, which was made just after midnight UK time, was visible for users on X for around 15 minutes before it was deleted.
Alejandro Garnacho used two gorilla emojis in his tribute post about Andre Onana (X)
Garnacho could now face a charge from the Football Association as the post is likely to be deemed an ‘aggravated breach’ of its rules on social media behaviour.
In 2020, Edinson Cavani was given a three-match ban and fined £100,000 by the FA after his public reply to a friend’s message on Instagram used the Spanish term ‘negrito’, which translates as ‘black’.
The Uruguayan, who was playing for Manchester United at the time, swiftly deleted the post and issued an apology after being made aware of the connotations, while the striker released an statement the following day saying he was ‘completely opposed to racism’.
Cavani was also ordered by the FA to undergo a training course.
In 2019, Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva was banned for one game and fined £50,000 for his post on Twitter about his then-teammate Benjamin Mendy.
Silva posted an image of Mendy as a child alongside a cartoon character that is the symbol of Spanish chocolate brand Conguitos.
Silva subsequently deleted the post less than an hour after he published it before posting on Twitter: ‘Can’t even joke with a friend these days.’
