A photo 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 which they decided had referenced teammate Benjamin Mendy’s race.
Alejandro Garnacho posted about team-mate Andre Onana and included two gorilla emojis
The teenager could now find himself in trouble with the Football Association over the now-deleted post, something which Onana (right) says would be a mistake, over on his Instagram
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.
Back in 2020, then-Man United striker Edinson Cavani was banned by the FA over a social post
His message translated to ‘thanks black’ as he appeared to respond to a congratulatory post
The Portuguese was banned for a game and fined £50,000 for his Twitter post about then-team-mate Mendy.
The midfielder chose to post an picture of Mendy as a 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 along with a cartoon character that is the symbol of Spanish chocolate brand Conguitos.
While the post was deleted inside an hour from when it was posted, Silva went on to show his bemusement at the negative reaction by writing: ‘Can’t even joke with a friend these days.’
English football’s governing body determine ‘aggravating factors’ under that rule to include comments that make a reference to any one or more of a person or persons’ ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality, faith, gender, 𝓈ℯ𝓍ual orientation or disability.
