Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho avoids FA punishment over social media post which saw him use two gorilla emojis while praising team-mate Andre Onana’s injury-time penalty save
- The Man United winger faced criticism after sharing the post onto his account
- However, the FA have confirmed they will not punish the Argentinian winger
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The FA have confirmed that they will not charge Alejandro Garnacho after he used two gorilla emojis in a social media post about his Manchester United teammate Andre Onana.
Last month, a photo of United players celebrating with the Cameroon goalkeeper following his crucial late penalty save in the win over FC Copenhagen appeared on Garnacho’s X account with the two emojis and was deleted after 15 minutes.
United boss Erik ten Hag and Onana himself both came out and claimed they were fully supporting the Argentine star while the FA investigated the issue.
The governing body have now concluded their investigation and confirmed the winger will not be charged for the social media post.
In a statement, the FA wrote: ‘We have concluded an investigation in relation to a recent post on Alejandro Garnacho’s social media.
The FA have confirmed that they will not take action against Man United’s Alejandro Garnacho
Garnacho posted about team-mate Andre Onana and included two gorilla emojis
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‘We sought the player’s observations as part of our investigation, and he explained that the use of two gorilla emojis was intended to highlight the strength and power of his teammates – specifically Andre Onana and Harry Maguire – following the pivotal roles that they played in Manchester United’s win over FC Copenhagen.
‘We are satisfied with Alejandro Garnacho’s explanation and the context that it provides, so we will not be issuing disciplinary proceedings on this occasion.
‘However, we have reminded the player of his responsibilities around social media posts and the use of emojis in particular which can be interpreted in different ways.
‘We also intend to liaise with Kick It Out and the PFA to discuss other potential issues around the use of emojis and similar forms of messaging, and education that can be provided about them.’
After the incident occurred, Onana took to social media 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.’
And Ten Hag pointed to Onana’s message as proof that his players are backing the youngster. Asked ahead of the Manchester derby if there was any update on the matter, he said: ‘Not in this moment. We are talking with the FA, I can confirm that and I want to emphasise we are together, we are united. You saw that with the post from Andre.’
There had been expectations that the FA would punish Garnacho, after they 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 which they decided had referenced teammate Benjamin Mendy‘s race.
Former 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.
Onana quickly leapt to the defence of his United team-mate on social media following the post
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