Antony wins Manchester United Goal of the Season award for volley against Barcelona in haphazard debut campaign after summer move
- Antony struggled for form but scored eight times in his debut season
- His volley effort helped United qualify for the Europa League quarter-finals
- Marcus Rashford picked up two awards at Monday night’s ceremony
Antony won Manchester United’s Goal of the Season award for his goal against Barcelona in the Europa League.
The awards were presented on Monday night at a ceremony to celebrate a season which saw United qualify for the Champions League again with a third place finish in the Premier League.
They also won the Carabao Cup earlier in the campaign and could secure a domestic cup double if they can beat rivals Manchester City to lift the FA Cup this weekend.
Despite being knocked out in the Europa League quarter-finals, United beat La Liga champions and European giants Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate in the round of 16.
Anthony’s 73rd-minute strike sent Erik ten Hag’s side through in the draw, and the fans voted it their goal of the season.
Antony won Manchester United’s Goal of the Season award for his goal against Barcelona
The Brazilian scored late in the Europa League tie to send United into the next round
United have revealed a list of the top ten candidates to vote, with the top four getting over 70% of the picks.
United said a “phenomenal number” of fans cast their ballots, with Marcus Rashford’s long-range goal against Burnley in the Carabao Cup coming fourth.
Alejandro Garnacho’s strike against Fulham came third, with Sancho de Jadon’s goal against Liverpool at Old Trafford finishing second.
Antony’s strike, meanwhile, was a fine left-footed curling effort from the edge of the box at Old Trafford in February.
The goal came after good defending from Barcelona, with Bruno Fernandes and Fred originally seeing the efforts blocked by the visiting defenders.
Brazilian Antony then kicked the ball in from a rebound past Marc-Andre ter Stegen to delight Old Trafford, meaning United were 4-3 up in the draw and they took the win.
He is doubtful for the FA Cup final, however, after being stretched in the win over Chelsea last week.
Marcus Rashford has been named Manchester United’s Player of the Year in their year-end awards. Credit: twitter.com/manutd
United players were dressed as they arrived for the end-of-season awards. Credit: twitter.com/manutd
The Dutchman, who secured a Champions League return for the Red Devils in his first year in charge, was speaking at the club’s end-of-season awards. Credit: twitter.com/manutd
Marcus Rashford, meanwhile, picked up the Fans’ Player of the Year award and the Players’ Player of the Year award at the ceremony.
The striker scored 30 goals in a season that saw him find his feet again after a difficult few years with his best goalscoring return to date.
After winning the awards, Rashford said: “It’s a real sense of pride, it’s been a long time since an academy player won this award, so I feel a huge sense of pride.”
“I just hope more academy players can go on and win this award and feel what I’m feeling right now on stage.” I’m very happy, very happy, and I just want to say a big thank you to my teammates, to the staff, because without them you push every day in training, you can’t see the best version of me. ‘
