One of the three women who has accused Manchester United winger Antony of assault has claimed she was attacked when visiting him on a business trip, and was told by a member of his entourage to keep quiet about the alleged incident so as not to damage his reputation before the 2022 World Cup.
Antony, who strongly denies all allegations, is under investigation by Brazilian authorities and Greater Manchester Police after his ex-girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin alleged he assaulted her on separate occasions between June 2022 and May this year.
Two further women — Rayssa de Freitas and Ingrid Lana — made further accusations, which Antony denies, in the Brazilian media on Thursday.
Lana, 33, gave an interview to Brazilian broadcaster Record TV on Sunday in which she said she felt she had been “tricked” by Antony after proposing she worked for him to manage his finances.
Lana claims she had known the United player for several years and was invited to England in September 2022 for what she considered a business trip.
She alleges the 23-year-old knocked on her door at 2am, the morning before a United fixture, grabbed her, pushed her against a wall and tried to kiss her. Antony claims the encounter was consensual.
Lana claimed that after being informed about the incident, Reginaldo Teixeira, a member of Antony’s entourage, advised her to keep it to herself so as not to harm Antony’s career. She said he later told her to block journalists who messaged her on social media.
Lana told Record TV: “My clients have always respected me. I didn’t imagine that he would want something else when I arrived there. He knocked on my door at 2am, saying that he had hurt his toe and asking if I knew how to put a dressing on. I said that I didn’t know, that I wasn’t a nurse. I asked why he didn’t ask the Manchester United staff to do it, because he had just arrived.
“He said, ‘I want to talk about the (business proposal)’. I said, ‘Sure, but I don’t think it’s the right time, Antony’. He said, ‘No, just quickly, because tomorrow I have a game and I won’t have time to speak with you. You’ll only be able to speak to Emerson (Antony’s brother)’. I let him enter, the door remained open, and he tried to kiss me.
“I said, ‘No,’ and he grabbed me. He pushed me against the wall and I banged my head. He said, ‘It will be really quick, come on, stop complaining because you want it too’. He said that before pushing me. ‘You want it too, it will be quick, stop that.’
“I found it strange. I said, ‘This isn’t the person I know. I didn’t come for that’. That’s when he said sorry. I crouched down, my eyes filled with tears. I said, ‘You changed. What’s happening?’ He said, ‘Forgive me,’ and he left the room.”
“The next day, I already wanted to go home. I thought, ‘I don’t deserve this. I don’t accept this situation. Did I study for nearly eight years of my life for this? No. And I left’.
When asked if she thought she was tricked by Antony, Lana said: “I think so.”
She added: “Our relationship changed because I felt used. I went there to do business, professionally, and I saw that that wasn’t what he wanted.”
Lana called Teixeira to ask him to book her a flight back to Brazil.
When asked if he had questioned why she was leaving, Lana continued: “He asked. And I didn’t want to say. I just said that I wasn’t feeling good and was missing home. But Antony told him the following day. I told him what happened. Reginaldo asked me to stay quiet, not to damage him. He asked me to let it go. ‘The World Cup is starting soon. Let it go so you don’t harm his career.’”
Teixeira has been contacted for comment by The Athletic.
A statement from Antony to Record TV on Sunday read: “When she went to Portugal for her cousin’s birthday, I asked her to come and meet me in Manchester, with the clear intention that it we would meet intimately. She even asked me whether I preferred red or white lingerie. I booked her flight and reserved a hotel for her. I met her at the hotel in question.
“We had an intimate, consensual encounter. Despite her insisting that we meet again for another intimate encounter, my schedule meant I couldn’t see her again before she returned to Brazil. I have not met with her since then. All of what I say is indubitably backed up by our messages, which I’m only not publishing in full in order to preserve the right to privacy. However, I will make them available to the authorities if that’s what is required to prove my innocence.”
Teixeira told Record TV, on the same Sunday programme, that Lana “clearly knew” Antony invited her to England to have a relationship and that she was lying about intending to do business with him. “Lies,” Teixeira said. “Antony has never used this kind of service. Not him, not his brother.”
On the alleged incident, Teixeira added: “I took Antony to the door of the room in the hotel. I left him there. He went in, closed the door. They closed the door. I went home and at 5am Antony sent me a message asking me to come and pick him up.”
When asked whether he had told Lana to block journalists, Teixeira added: “She messaged me to say that lots of journalists were calling her. I told her, ‘Ingrid, it’s best if you don’t get involved in that. If you speak, you will have to tell the truth. And the truth doesn’t sell’.”
United initially acknowledged allegations against Antony in a statement on Wednesday, September 6 and confirmed on Sunday he would not be returning to England “until further notice” to further address the allegations.
Antony’s former partner Cavallin had alleged in an interview with Brazil news outlet UOL that was published on September 4 that she was first attacked by Antony on June 1, 2022 while she was pregnant when on holiday in Brazil. She claims he threatened to throw her from a moving car.
Cavallin further alleges she was head-butted and punched by Antony in a Manchester hotel room on January 15, 2023, which resulted in a damaged breast implant. She claims she also sustained a finger injury during an incident on May 8 2023.
Antony told SBT that while their relationship was “turbulent,” he “never touched her” and described allegations that he had injured her as a “lie”.
Brazilian media company Extra reported on Thursday that De Freitas filed a police complaint against Antony on May 20 2022, claiming she needed hospital treatment after being in the former Ajax player’s car with another woman and a hairdresser following a visit to a nightclub in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
On Friday, Antony gave an extended interview to Brazilian TV channel SBT in which he strongly denied assaulting any woman, saying: “I never have and I never will.”
In a statement released alongside Manchester United’s on Sunday, he said: “I want to reiterate my innocence of the things I have been accused of, and I will fully cooperate with the police to help them reach the truth.”
GO DEEPER
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(Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images)
