Antony gives honest interview and addresses his drop in form which started to worry Man Utd
Manchester United winger Antony has revealed he's been dealing with a personal issue recently, which contributed to his drop in form.
The 22-year-old opened the scoring in Friday evening's 3-1 victory over Everton in the FA Cup with a smart finish after meeting Marcus Rashford's cross.
He missed Tuesday's 3-0 win over Bournemouth, initially put down to an injury. Antony has since revealed a 'really hard' personal matter took its toll.
In an interview with TNT Sport, he said: "First of all, it's a feeling of joy. I'm happy to score again, especially at home.
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"I've set some goals for me this season and it's good to score as soon as I've started to think of personal goals. But, of course, the most important is United's qualification to the next stage.
"I also feel relieved as in the last days I had a shock, but I prefer not to comment on what happened.
"It was a personal matter, really hard, but I'm very grateful to God to put that behind me now, grateful to the club, to the players and to the manager. Everyone stayed by my side."
Antony dedicated his goal celebration to his family, putting his fingers to his face after running to the Old Trafford corner flag.
The winger scored on his United debut against Arsenal back in September, but supporters were starting to criticise his lack of impact on games.
He's hoping to put that behind him and help the Red Devils achieve success under manager Erik ten Hag.
Antony continued: "It was a really, really difficult moment for me days ago. But God has been always on my side and I'm grateful also to my family. I dedicate this goal to them, it's in moments like these that you know who really loves you.
"It's in the past now, I'm happy to score and I hope to keep going like this because this is a year of a lot of achievements and wins.
"This is my mind-frame now. I'm 100 per cent focused on honouring the fans and the club. We all know the size of this club and we want to put United back to where it deserves."
Everton managed to equalise through Conor Coady after David de Gea made a huge error in the United net.
Coady turned into his own net after halftime to restore United's lead before Marcus Rashford netted from the penalty spot in added time to secure passage to the fourth round.
Daniel Marland