Antony continues to steal the show in Spain after his departure from Manchester United.
The Real Betis winger scored two goals in Sunday’s 3-0 win over Mallorca to send Manuel Pellegrini’s side up to fifth place in the La Liga table.
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It was Antony who broke the deadlock in the tenth minute at the Villamarín Stadium – he fired a powerful shot from 25 yards that ended up in the bottom right corner.
He secured his second goal of the evening in the 34th minute, also in spectacular fashion. After a retro pass from Héctor Bellerín on the edge of the penalty area, Antony curled the ball into the lower left corner with a nice one-touch finish.
How has Antony performed at Betis?
This was his sixth goal on shots from outside the box for Betis since joining the club on loan in the winter transfer window earlier this year.
Since his debut for Betis in February, Kylian Mbappé is the only player in Europe’s top-five leagues to have scored more goals from outside the box than Antony. The Real Madrid striker has scored seven goals, and the duo are the only two players to have scored more than five times.
While Antony scored two goals in the first half, he completed a memorable performance when he set up Abde Ezzalzouli for Betis’ third goal of the evening.
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While Antony did not reach the heights expected of him after his £81.3 million transfer to United from Ajax in 2022, he has been nothing short of fantastic at Sevilla.
The 25-year-old Brazilian contributed nine goals and five assists in 26 appearances in all competitions during his short spell last season.
And he has already found the back of the net five times this season after his £21.6m transfer on the final day of the transfer window.
Recognition from the Spanish press
His performance against Mallorca has led to him being called a “magician” by the Spanish press, and the Brazilian has also been labelled as the team’s “superhero”.
Antony has been vocal about his time in the “Theatre of Dreams”, which turned into a “Theatre of Nightmares” for him. In September, he blamed the club for the treatment of him, after boss Rúben Amorim banished him to United’s “bomb squad”.
He declared that the Premier League giants “lacked respect” for him in a brutally honest interview.
But he is back to playing with a smile on his face as he leads Betis’ fight for a Champions League spot.
Post-match feedbackIn a post-match
conversation, the striker said: “Very happy with the result, it’s very important.”
“We knew how important today’s game was because it was very tough to lose the three points at home against Atlético Madrid.”
“Now it’s very important to win at home for our confidence. We move on.”
“I’m very happy with the two goals and the assist, it’s a shame I didn’t get the third, but it’s part of the game.”
He added: “Very happy, everyone knows how much desire I had in my heart.”
“I’m very happy here, I’m at home, I play a lot for all the supporters and all of you.”
Antony will be looking to shine again and show United what they are missing out on when Betis face Lyon in the Europa League on Thursday.
