Antony made a ‘promise’ to Casemiro immediately after he was sent off for Manchester United against Southampton on Sunday.
Casemiro was shown a straight red card following a VAR review in Man United’s goalless draw with Southampton at Old Trafford.
The Brazilian, who was also sent off against Crystal Palace just last month, overcommitted in his tackle on Carlos Alcaraz, resulting in a red card.
Antony and Lisandro Martinez consoled the star midfielder, who slowly trudged off the pitch with a four-match ban.
Antony consoles a distraught Casemiro. Image: PA
But before he made his way back to the dressing room, Man United’s Brazilian forward grabbed him by the shoulder, pointed at his chest and appeared to say: “I will win this game for you.”
The 23-year-old created two chances, had one shot and won four of his duels before being substituted as he failed to live up to his promise to Casemiro.
Man United, though, remain in the Champions League spots as they currently occupy third place in the table, with 50 points on the board.
Speaking after the game, Erik ten Hag praised his team’s showing considering they were a man down and bemoaned Casemiro’s dismissal.
He said: “Casemiro has played over 500 games in Europe. He never had a red card. And now, what is it? In [the space of a few] games and 20 games [in total] in the Premier League, he has two red cards.
“His absence is not the issue. We will deal with that. The issue is that this game was influenced by the referee. I said what I said. That is the refereeing is influencing the game and we talk about two issues.
“Big compliment to the team, they showed big character. When you are a long time playing with 10 against 11, and we played on Thursday, once again the team is fit physically and mentally. It was a great performance by our lads and we could have won this game.”
