Andre Onana Defends Alejandro Garnacho After Backlash Over Use Of Gorilla Emojis

Andre Onana has said that Manchester United teammate Alejandro Garnacho should not be punished for his use of gorilla emojis in a recent social media post.

Onana saved a last-minute penalty to help United beat Copenhagen 1-0 at Old Trafford in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.

Later on Tuesday night, Garnacho tweeted a photo of Onana and his teammates celebrating on the pitch.

Uruguayan Garnacho captioned the image with two gorilla emojis.

The tweet has since been deleted after Garnacho received a social media backlash and was accused of posting racist content.

However, Cameroon international Onana has spoken out in defense of Garnacho.

"People cannot choose what I should be offended by. I know exactly what @Garnacho7 meant: power and strength," Onana wrote on Instagram.

"This matter should go no further."

But Garnacho could yet face a punishment from the Football Association.

The FA is aware of the deleted post and has asked Garnacho to explain it.

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva was fined £50,000 and banned for one game by the FA in 2019 after he posted a tweet likening teammate Benjamin Mendy to the character on a packet of Conguitos - a popular chocolate brand in Spain and Portugal.

The punishment was handed out despite the FA accepting that Silva "did not intend" for his tweet to be "racist".

Andre Onana pictured during Manchester United's 1-0 win over Copenhagen

IMAGO/Sportimage/Andrew Yates