ALEJANDRO GARNACHO has escaped a ban for his social media “ape” comment.
The Manchester United youngster faced disciplinary action after posting the response to Andre Onana’s last-kick Champions League penalty save against Copenhagen.
Garnacho added ape emojis as a comment to a picture of the Cameroon goalkeeper celebrating his save.
It appeared that the Argentine would face a misconduct charge after Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva served a one-match ban in 2019 for a posting a cartoon character accused of racial stereotyping in a message to then-team-mate Benjamin Mendy.
But in a statement, Wembley disciplinary beaks announced Garnacho has merely received a warning about his social media posts and will face no further action.
An FA spokesman said: “We have concluded an investigation in relation to a recent post on Alejandro Garnacho’s social media.
“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.”
The FA added: “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.”
Onana reacted to the situation by defending his team-mate on Instagram.
He wrote: “People cannot choose what I should be offended by.
“I know exactly what @garnacho7 meant: power and strength. This matter should go no further.”
