Manchester United winger Antony has hit back at assault allegations made by Ingrid Lana by branding her a “fraudster” and publishing a series of WhatsApp messages in an attempt to discredit his latest accuser.
Lana, a 33-year-old bank sales manager, gave an interview to Brazilian television station Record on Sunday in which she claimed Antony tried to kiss her at his home last year and that she was pushed and hit her head when his advances were rejected.
But Antony, 23, has claimed he had an “intimate and consensual encounter” with Lana at a hotel – not his home – and has now taken the dramatic step of releasing private WhatsApp messages that he claims are between the pair as a war of words broke out on Monday.
“I don’t want to but I’m being forced to publish a small part of the WhatsApp conversations with Ingrid, which demonstrates that we only had a single meeting, intimate and consensual,” Antony said in a statement on his Instagram stories account. “This matter with this fraudster will be resolved in court!!”.
In one of the messages published by the United player, the person allegedly messaging Antony tells him: “If you want I’ll wait naked for you in bed.”
In subsequent messages believed to have been posted in the days after the alleged incident in September last year, Antony is reputedly told: “I can’t have your photo to get wet here” and “good morning my love talk to me prince”.
On Monday, Lana fired back at Antony on Instagram, accusing the “desperate” and “embarrassing” United winger of lying and fabricating the WhatsApp messages.
Antony had given a separate statement to Record TV on Sunday in which he claims Lana “asked to come here to Manchester to meet me, with a clear intention of meeting me intimately, including asking me if I preferred red or white lingerie.
“I bought a [plane] ticket and booked a hotel for her. In fact, I met her at the aforementioned hotel and we had an intimate and consensual encounter. Although she insisted that we meet again for another intimate encounter, due to scheduling issues I was unable to see her again, as she returned to Brazil. Since then, I have never met her again.”
Greater Manchester Police and Sao Paulo Civil Police are currently investigating separate allegations from Antony’s former girlfriend, Gabriela Cavallin, who claims she was subjected to a series of attacks by the Brazil international between June last year and May this year.
A third woman, Rayssa de Freitas, has also made accusations against Antony. She filed a police report in Sao Paulo in May last year – which was made public last week – alleging the United player and a woman were violent towards her after a night out. Antony denies all the allegations.
It was announced on Sunday that United and Antony had agreed the former Ajax forward should stay away from the club until further notice to prevent the allegations from becoming a “distraction” for Erik ten Hag’s team and to allow the player to focus on defending himself against the claims.
Telegraph Sport understands that the alleged incident between Antony and Lana occurred at a Cheshire hotel in the early hours of Sep 16 last year, shortly after Antony had arrived back in Manchester from Moldova where he was playing for United against Sheriff Tiraspol the previous night.
When contacted by Telegraph Sport, Lana stood firmly by her accusations and questioned the authenticity of the text messages published by Antony. She also claims she was in Manchester for business purposes.
“At no point I said to him: ‘I’m going there to have sex with you’,” Lana said. “You can make jokes and talk with someone. But this doesn’t mean you’re going to meet the person to have sex with them.
“I’d like him to show if there’s any message from me saying: ‘I’m travelling there to have sex with you.’ But if he forged, or even exaggerated or manipulated it, we can get these messages and submit them to a forensic analysis. And we can go to court and sort it out. It’ll be up to him. If he wants war, he’ll have war.”
Telegraph Sport has seen a document that alleges 1,759 messages were exchanged between Antony and Lana between Aug 10 and Dec 12 last year. One of the mobile numbers listed was the same number Telegraph Sport used to contact Lana.
In one exchange, dated Aug 25 last year, the person allegedly messaging Antony tells him: “I’m not wearing any knickers. I don’t like to wear them at home.”
After a graphic image was then allegedly shared soon after by Antony, he received a message back that is alleged to have read: “I’m going crazy here. And at the same time ashamed.”
Lana claimed she had received “hard core” images from Antony that she did not request. “I could do some screen shots here and show even the nudes he sent me – hard core stuff – nudes that he sent me without my consent, without me wanting them,” she said.
Speaking in general terms, Lana said: “Regardless of two people flirting or not, when you both get together but you don’t want to have sex with that person anymore, you’re not obliged to. This doesn’t give the other person the right to assault you. But this was not the case.
“I could well have lied, I could have said that I have been sexually abused. But I decided not to lie because I wouldn’t get anything with it. And I don’t want lies. Him saying that he had sex with me, boasting about it, that’s too much.”
