Alejandro Garnacho could face FA sanction for Onana social media post
There is a chance that Alejandro Garnacho from Manchester United may get in trouble with the Football Association because of a post he made on social media. The post included two gorilla emojis on top of a picture of André Onana, following the goalkeeper's impressive save during injury time against FC Copenhagen.
Once informed of the racially insensitive undertones of his post on X (previously known as Twitter), Garnacho took it down. The Football Association was notified of the incident and has reached out to the young 19-year-old from Argentina to gather his perspective.
On social media last Thursday, Onana came to the defense of Garnacho. In a statement, he expressed that it is not up to others to decide what offends him. He understood the comment made by @garnacho07 to be about power and strength and believes that the situation should not be escalated any further.
Garnacho shared a photo that depicted Onana's celebration with his team members, including Garnacho himself. On this occasion, Onana had managed to deflect Jordan Larsson's penalty away from the goalpost with the final touch of the game, hence, securing three significant points for the Champions League.
If Garnacho's post is deemed racially insensitive by the FA, he could face charges for violating their social media rules. In 2020, ex-Manchester United player Edinson Cavani was hit with a three-match suspension and £100,000 fine for using the phrase "Gracias Negrito" to express gratitude to a supporter.
During November 2019, Manchester City's Bernardo Silva was penalized with a fine of £50,000 and a one-game suspension due to an "aggravated breach" of the FA's conduct code. This was a result of a tweet that seemingly insinuated the race of left-back Benjamin Mendy, when Bernardo compared him to a mascot belonging to a Spanish candy company. Mendy had reached out to the commission to express his understanding of the tweet, as it was meant in good faith by the player.
