Man Utd flop Antony apologises to Real Betis fans for red card after botched overhead kick leaves opponent writhing in agony

At first, Antony was only shown a yellow card for the incident that saw his foot catch Girona defender Joel Roca. The Brazilian was guilty of a perhaps unnecessarily audacious attempt to put a bouncing ball back into the danger area as Real Betis pushed for a stoppage-time winner. But instead of recycling the chance for his team, Antony was too late to the ball after Roca headed it away first. The momentum of his swinging boot then struck the defender flush in the face and left him writhing on the floor in agony.

The incident was flagged by VAR and, having consulted the pitch-side monitor, on-field referee Iosu Galech Apezteguia decided to upgrade the original yellow card to a straight red.

Taking to social media in the wake of the game, Antony offered his sincere apology to Betis fans.

"Very sad about the red card. All I wanted was to help my team win," he said, hoping to justify what was clearly careless mistake, rather than a deliberate attempt to injure an opponent. "A completely unintentional move ... sorry to all the fans that have always supported me."

Real Betis coach Manuel Pellegrini has seen considerable growth in Antony - who rebuffed Bayern Munich in the summer in order to return to Los Verdiblancos - since he first rocked up on loan from Manchester United last January. His form in the second half of last season was enough for Betis to rejig their finances to facilitate a permanent transfer and Pellegrini remarked in September how pleased he is with the results.

"He's matured significantly, he's working really hard in games, with and without the ball, with 40-metre runs, changes up front, getting into the box, working on recovering," the ex-Manchester City and West Ham boss said at the time. "And that's what has helped him to make up for some of that lack of precision.

"I spoke with him before he came to Betis. He told me that he was not playing because he was not happy, but he had a lot of complaints about what he has done also. He wanted revenge, and here in Betis, I think he had it, and he did it in the way we know he can do, because it's not easy for you to play as a 100 million player. And Antony is a very good player. I am absolutely sure that this is a huge time for him here in Betis to help improve his career."

The Girona result was a missed opportunity for fifth-place Real Betis, with two dropped points against a team in the relegation zone to see the gap between them and La Liga's top four grow. In pursuit of Champions League qualification for the first time since competing in the 2005-06 group stage, the distance to Atletico Madrid in fourth is now a sizeable seven points.

But while the red card won't affect Antony's availability for this week's Europa League encounter with Dutch side Utrecht, which is a must-win game for ninth-place Betis against one of the competition's weaker teams to boost chances of a top-eight finish and automatic passage into the round of 16, he will have to serve a domestic ban.

The standard suspension for a straight red card in La Liga starts at just one game, but can be extended to three depending on the severity of the incident. It rules Antony out of at least the huge city derby on Sunday against Sevilla, who are struggling in mid-table but are expected to throw the form book out of the window.