Despite claims that he assaulted three women, Manchester United star Antony says he has no concerns for his future at Old Trafford.
In addition to two more Brazilian women, Rayssa de Freitas and Ingrid Lana, Antony has also been accused of assaulting Gabriela Cavallin on four separate occasions. The 23-year-old winger has refuted all accusations.
When the new allegations surfaced on Monday, Brazil removed Antony from their team, but United has not yet taken any action as police investigations in Manchester and Sao Paulo are ongoing.
Even though Mason Greenwood rejected accusations of attempted rape and assault, and the Crown Prosecution Service dropped all charges in February, United ruled last month that he could not represent the team again.
Greenwood is currently reestablishing his career at Getafe, but Antony, who was acquired from Ajax for £85 million last year, isn’t concerned about the future and is still optimistic that he will be cleared.
Man United’s Antony has broken his silence following a string of domestic abuse allegations
DJ and influencer Gabriela Cavallin made allegations against her former partner this week
Giving a tearful interview to Brazilian TV channel SBT on Friday night he said: ‘It’s something that doesn’t cross my mind.
‘I know the truth and it will come out. I know many are butchering me, but the truth always comes out.
‘United are on top of the whole inquiry. They’re following up and they’re going to keep up.’
However, he admits it hurt that Brazil dropped him from their squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Bolivia and Peru, adding: ‘It was tough, even more so for one thing that I’m sure isn’t true and gained this whole proportion.
‘I was here with my mum when I heard I was going to be cut. It’s not easy. We work to realise a dream, and wearing the national team jersey is a dream I face every day.’
Antony spoke out against domestic violence and insisted that he would never harm a woman.
‘I don’t support this ever,’ he said. ‘It’s totally wrong, 100 per cent wrong. I have a mother, a sister, and I would never want this to happen to them.
‘I’m 100 per cent sure I’ve never touched a woman, and I’ll come up with the evidence. People will see the truth. I have never assaulted and I will never assault. I’m sure I’ve never committed physical violence.
Cavallin filed a police report in Brazil in June and then spoke out during a television interview
Cavallin said that she needed stitches to her breast after Antony allegedly injured her
‘Anyone who has been with me since I was little, when I had nothing, knows my character and how much I sweated to get here.
‘What I want most is to show the people that this is me. I want to achieve a lot of things.
‘I have many goals and many dreams. I want to show who I really am. I dream of returning to the national team and I want to show that Antony is innocent of all this.’
The most serious of Cavallin’s claims states that during a fight at a hotel in Manchester in January, Antony head-butted her, causing an assault that dislodged a breast implant. She additionally asserts that the club is attempting to hide the truth about the incident, which the club claims is ‘categorically incorrect’.
According to Antony, the implant was already compromised. He claims: “The silicone situation was diagnosed in 2020 before I met her.” She had to modify it already. Should I strike a female in the chest? Never.
‘At no time did I touch her. I’m never going to head-butt a person. She was in a hotel and texted me. I went to her hotel and we had lunch together normally. But there was one thing that irritated her, which was when I said I needed to go because I had my commitments. We had an argument.
Antony posted a statement in Portuguese on Instagram in June as he stressed his innocence
‘I tried to leave and she wouldn’t let me. Then she broke glasses and plates. She threw it on the ground and threw it in my direction as well. She came to me. At that moment, I held her. At no point did I squeeze her. I didn’t head-butt her.
‘It was kind of a turbulent relationship. There was jealousy on both sides, on my part and hers as well. We ended up arguing. A lot of stuff because I was with Gabi but I related to other women as well.’
On another occasion, Cavallin claims she was assaulted in Antony’s car after a party and he threatened to throw her out of the moving vehicle when she was pregnant.
He also denies this, saying: ‘(Physical) aggression, no. I never touched her. At no time did I call her to the party. I didn’t talk to her. When I left, I didn’t call her, I just told my security guard and my friend that I was going. She went after me and said, “Go away and you’re not going to call me?”.
‘She started to change inside the car. She started calling me rubbish again. She said she was going to end my life and my career. She always said that.
‘I was in the car and I was quiet. I didn’t even hold her or anything, because she kept pushing me in the car, I didn’t even get to hold her. There’s a lot of things she’s saying that aren’t true.’
Cavallin also alleges that Antony cut her finger with a glass and stopped her from leaving his house in another row.
The winger was removed from the Brazil squad in the wake of his ex-girlfriend’s accusations
Manchester United have claimed they ‘acknowledge the allegations made against Antony and note that the Police are conducting enquiries’
‘It’s a lie, of course it didn’t happen,’ he countered. ‘How am I going to throw a cup in a person’s face? Do you know how the cup episode went?
‘We were at a barbecue, there was pagoda, everything normal, normal environment. She was drinking heavily, and I asked her to stop drinking.
‘When I pulled the cup, she locked and held on. The rod snapped and cut her finger. I didn’t even pull, she pushed down. So, I wanted to take the glass off her because she was drinking too much. I’m never going to throw a cup in a woman’s or anyone’s face, ever.’
Antony also insisted that Cavallin doctored WhatsApp messages that she released to the media to smear his reputation.
‘There are things that were changed by her in the prints,’ he argued. ‘She even texted and deleted a sentence I sent, just leaving a word I wrote – where I say sorry and she deletes a sentence.
‘I have proof of all this. I’m going to contact my lawyers and they’re going to put all of this into the inquiry.’