Antony gave an ingenious response after he was the target of angry words from Erik ten Hag during Manchester United’s Europa League second leg against Barcelona.

Erik ten Hag made no attempt to hide his outrage with Antony when he opted to shoot while Marcus Rashford was yelling for the ball – but the Manchester United winger vindicated himself earnestly.

The 22-year-old responded to his earlier poor judgement brilliantly by putting United ahead with a volleyed finish which left Marc-Andre ter Stegen with no chance. “Two shots are blocked and it ends up with Anthony who places the ball towards the right-hand post. There is no chance for the goalkeeper,” United legend Peter Schmeichel said on BBC Radio 5 Live of Antony’s finish.

Antony replaced Wout Weghorst at half-time during United’s Europa League play-off against Barcelona and helped the hosts put in a much-improved second-half performance at Old Trafford. The Red Devils trailed 1-0 – and 3-2 on aggregate – at the interval after Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring from the spot.

But United came bursting out of the blocks for the second half and took less than two minutes to draw level thanks to Fred’s effort from the edge of the area. Ten Hag’s side had plenty of chances to snatch a winner – and Antony was guilty of squandering one of these just after the hour mark.

Meanwhile, Robbie Savage hailed the impact Antony and fellow substitutes Diogo Dalot and Alejandro Garnacho made. He said on BT Sport: ” The substitutes having a real impact for Manchester United, and I tell you what, it’s such a beautiful finish. He’s (Antony) almost placed it into that far corner.

“They might check if that is a foul [by Bruno Fernandes] but I don’t think it is. Just see the back-heel [from Luke Shaw] there, I don’t think it’s a foul. Garnacho with the first shot and then when it comes out to Antony. Look at that for a finish – it’s magnificent. He’s been such a threat since he’s come on, Antony, on that right-hand side.”