'We are together' - Erik ten Hag responds to threat of Alejandro Garnacho suspension after Man Utd forward posts gorilla emojis next to picture of Andre Onana

Erik ten Hag isn't worried about a ban for Alejandro Garnacho after the Manchester United star used gorilla emojis in a tweet about Andre Onana.

WHAT HAPPENED? Garnarcho tweeted an image of Onana with gorilla emojis after the goalkeeper saved a last-gasp penalty in United's 1-0 Champions League win against FC Copenhagen on Tuesday. The 19-year-old first removed the emojis and then deleted the tweet entirely. The FA is investigating the incident.

WHAT THEY SAID: On Friday, United boss Ten Hag insisted that he is not worried about potentially losing Garnarcho to suspension. "Not [concerned] in this moment," he told reporters ahead of Sunday's Manchester derby. «We are talking with the FA. I can confirm that and want to emphasise we are together, we are United and you see that in the post of Andre Onana.»

THE BIGGER PICTURE: The post Ten Hag referred to was a response to the incident from Onana himself. On Thursday, the Cameroonian goalkeeper posted a photo of himself, Garnarcho and his teammates to his Instagram Story, with the caption: «People cannot choose what I should be offended by. I know exactly what Garnacho meant: power and strength. This matter should go no further.»

IN TWO IMAGES:

WHAT NEXT?: Despite Onana defending his teammate, Garnacho could fall foul of the FA's guidelines on racially sensitive social media posts. Former United striker Edinson Cavani and Manchester City star Bernardo Silva were handed three and one-match bans in 2020 and 2019 respectively following similar incidents.