The story of Antony: From evading dead bodies and drug dealers in 'Little Hell' - to Man Utd misery and assault allegations

Antony hails from a favela in Sao Paulo known as Inferninho, which translates as 'Little Hell'. Antony lifted the lid on his traumatic upbringing in the favela in an interview with The Players' Tribune in 2022, detailing his experience of living side-by-side with gangsters and drug dealers and growing up in dire poverty.

"If you really want to understand me as a person, then you must understand where I am from. My history. My roots. Inferninho," he said. "It is an infamous place. Fifteen steps from our front door, there were always drug dealers doing their business, passing stuff hand-to-hand. The smell was constantly outside our window."

Antony's house was so small that he not only shared a room with his parents until he was a teenager - he shared a bed with them.

For Antony, gun violence and police raids were nothing out of the norm. "We were so used to seeing guns that it was not even scary. They were just a part of everyday life," he told The Players' Tribune.

"We were more scared of the police knocking down our door. One time, they invaded our house looking for someone and they came running in screaming. They found nothing, of course. But when you’re so young, those moments mark you."

He also recalled coming across a dead body on his way to school as a child. "In the favela, you become kind of numb to these things," he added. "There was no other way to go, and I had to get to school. So, I just closed my eyes and jumped over the dead body."

Antony's escape from the horrors of his local area was the football matches he would play with his brother with the other residents of the favela. With no money for boots he would play "barefoot, on bleeding feet".

"I was small, but I dribbled with a meanness that came from God. Dribbling was always something inside me. It was a natural instinct. And I refused to bow my head to anyone," he recalled.

"I would elastico the drug dealers. Rainbow the bus drivers. Nutmeg the thieves. I really did not give a f*ck. With a ball at my feet, I had no fear."

Antony got his big break after being discovered by the director of futsal team Gremio Barueri. The director was watching a match in the Inferinho favela and Antony, aged eight at the time, stood out for his daring style of play, pulling off tricks against the adults, many of whom were feared gangsters.

After taking this first small step towards becoming a footballer and idolising Ronaldinho from watching Youtube clips on his neighbour's WIFI, Antony promised his mother he would become a professional footballer and would buy a red Range Rover. He went on to fulfill both pledges.

Antony joined the academy of local giants Sao Paulo FC when he was 14. The club is one of the biggest and most successful in Brazil. The likes of Cafu, Kaka and future Manchester United team-mate Casemiro all came through their youth academy.

Antony's time there was far from straight-forward, however. He would turn up to training after school on an empty stomach as he could not afford to eat. "I was so skinny, but I always played with 'blood in my eyes'. This is the kind of intensity that comes from the streets. You cannot fake it," he recalled.

Antony also struggled with discipline, however. He revealed he had "some problems with my emotions" and was on the verge of being kicked out of the club on three occasions.

In 2019, Antony led Sao Paulo to victory in one of the city's prestigious youth football competitions, known as the Copinha, scoring in the final against Vasco da Gama and also being named player of the tournament. That year he also gained prominence in the first team, helping them reach the final of the Sao Paulo state championship.

Antony scored in the second leg of the final against Corinthians although his side were eventually beaten 2-1. The match was played in front of 44,000 fans and televised. At the time, however, Antony was still living in the favela in Inferninho. He returned there after the match.

A resident said to him: "I just saw you on TV. What are you doing here?" He responded: "Brother, I live here."

The year 2019 was also important on a personal level for Antony. While preparing to play a quarter-final tie in the Sao Paulo championship, he discovered his then girlfriend was pregnant. He did not take the news well.

"At first it was very difficult for me, I didn't want to (be a father) because I was young and things were happening in my life. It was complicated, I kept thinking about it," he admitted to Brazilian newspaper O Globo.

His son, Lorenzo, was born in November 2019 and he said it had changed his life and his career for the better. "I went from a teenager to a man, an adult. Responsibility increases when you have a child to raise. You start doing things not just for yourself, but also for the people you love."

It did not take long for European clubs to show interest in Antony. Borussia Dortmund made an approach but Ajax, coached by Erik ten Hag, were the first to strike, agreeing to sign the winger in February 2020 for £13 million ($15m) plus an additional £5m ($6m).

Antony gained seven kilograms of muscle mass during the coronavirus lockdowns and when he moved over to Amsterdam for the start of the 2020-21 season, he was faster and stronger. He had a stunning start, scoring nine goals in his first 19 games in all competitions.

Asked about how he dealt with the pressure of moving to a new league, culture, language and weather, Antony told Globo: "The cold wasn't going to bother me at all. Talking to my managers and my family, I said this, the biggest pressure was when I lived in the favela and I went to school at 9 am and I only ate something at 9 pm. Now that's a bit of pressure. When I knew I was going to sign with Ajax, I mentally prepared myself to get here and adapt as quickly as possible and that's what I tried to do."

At the end of his first season with Ajax, Antony was selected in the Brazil under-23 squad for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The winger was one of the outstanding players of the tournament, starting every match as his team reached the final against Spain.

Antony set up the decisive goal for Malcom in his side's 2-1 win over Spain in extra-time. He was rewarded with a call-up by coach Tite into the first team for the World Cup qualifiers and, on his debut, scored in a 3-1 win over Venezuela.

Antony had an even better second season with Ajax and impressed in a stunning Champions League group stage campaign in which Ten Hag's side won all six matches to top their group with 18 points. Antony scored twice, against Dortmund and Sporting CP, while setting up four goals.

He ended the season with 12 goals and 10 assists, helping Ajax retain the Eredivisie title and reach the KNBV Cup final, where they were beaten by PSV.

Not everyone was pleased with Antony's performances with Ajax, though. The Brazilian was sent off towards the end of a tense 3-2 win over arch rivals Feyenoord for a remarkable exhibition of time-wasting, rolling about on the floor for minutes, leading to one of his team-mates to grab him, only for the player to roll over again.

On the sidelines, Feyenoord coach Arne Slot kept shaking his head and could not help laughing. Former Netherlands forward Wim Kieft lashed out at Antony, claiming: "This kind of boy cannot be tamed by a coach."

Ajax legend Marco van Basten described the Brazilian as "childish", adding: "Antony has his skills, but he is confused with the things he is trying to do."

Antony was soon on the move again after Ten Hag left Ajax for United and wanted to bring the Brazilian with him, pushing for his transfer after a terrible start to the season, despite his escalating price.

Antony did his part to force through the move, refusing to train ahead of a match against Utrecht. Ajax, on the other hand, made sure they got the best price possible. In the end he cost United £85m ($106m), earning Ajax a tidy profit of £67m ($83m) in two years.

"We would have liked to keep him here one year longer - there was not a dire need to sell him, we had money in the bank - but the fee got so high," then Ajax CEO Edwin van der Sar told The Athletic. "We challenged United to go as far as possible. They have a potential world star.”

Antony got off to a flying start with United, scoring the opening goal on his debut against Arsenal, a 3-1 win at Old Trafford. He also struck against Manchester City, a stunning curling effort after cutting in from the right wing.

He netted again against Everton, becoming the first ever new United signing to score in his first three matches. However, he could not keep up his immense start and the goals began to dry up.

He scored just one more Premier League goal all season, six months after netting against Everton, in a brilliant performance against Nottingham Forest. That was also the game when Antony got his first Premier League assist, a stunning dribble and pass for Diogo Dalot.

Antony ended the campaign with just two assists in the Premier League, as many as he had in the Eredivisie in just two games.

Antony was given the highest honour for any Brazilian footballer when he was called into the squad for the 2022 World Cup. But he did not have the best tournament. He made four appearances, albeit only one start, in the dead rubber against Cameroon.

The winger had a strange excuse for not performing at his best. After Brazil were beaten on penalties by Croatia in the quarter-finals, he told ESPN that the air conditioning in the stadiums had made him ill.

Antony scored his most important goal for United in the Europa League play-off against Barcelona, striking late to seal a 2-1 comeback win at Old Trafford. He also scored a stunning curler in the 4-1 win over Real Betis in the next round.

His season ended in agony, however, falling injured in United's penultimate Premier League match against Chelsea. That meant he missed the FA Cup final against Manchester City.

Three days after the FA Cup final, on June 6, it was reported that Antony's ex-girlfriend Gabriela Cavallin had filed a police report in Brazil, accusing the footballer of domestic violence, threat and bodily injury.

United made no comment at the time but later in the month Antony released a statement on Instagram, insisting he had been "falsely accused".

The allegations against Antony did not affect his place in United's squad and he was selected for the pre-season tour of the United States in July. He scored in the 3-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund and the 3-1 win over Lens.

Ten Hag was optimistic about Antony's prospects for the season, insisting he was not affected by the allegations against him: “No, the outcome in Brazil was clear. He is doing a good pre-season, he is also scoring some goals.

"He is more often in the situations where he is a threat for the opposition. Also in the key moments, he is there where he should have been. Now he has to finish. He is [moving in] a good direction, now he has to speed up, because for us good is not good enough. Don’t get distracted, focus on football and performing.”

Antony started United's first four matches of the Premier League season and failed to contribute to any goals as his side scraped wins over Nottingham Forest and Wolves and were beaten by Tottenham and Arsenal.

The day after United's defeat to Arsenal, Antony headed off to Brazil to join the national team for their first two World Cup qualifiers against Bolivia and Peru. However, when he landed, more disturbing details of the allegations against him were revealed by former girlfriend Cavallin.

The DJ and influencer alleged that Antony had threatened to throw her out of a speeding car, had punched her in the chest, resulting in the dislocation of one of her breast implants, and had thrown a glass at her, causing a cut to her finger. It also emerged that Cavallin had filed a police report against Antony in England, which Greater Manchester Police confirmed they were making enquiries about.

Antony issued another denial but the fresh reports led to Brazil dropping Antony for the World Cup qualifiers "in order to safeguard the alleged victim, the player, the Brazilian national team and the CBF".

Antony gave a television interview in Brazil on Friday to insist he was innocent of the allegations Cavallin had made against him.  "I'm 100 percent sure I've never touched a woman, and I'll come up with the evidence. People will see the truth. I have never assaulted and I will never assault. I'm sure I've never committed physical violence," he said.

However, on Sunday, two more women came forward to say they had been subjected to violence by the United player. Law student Rayssa de Freitas claims to have required hospital treatment following an incident in May 2022 during which she was attacked by Antony and Mallu Ohana – the ex-wife of Brazilian player Dudu – after attending a Sao Paulo nightclub.

Ingrid Lana, a 33-year-old banker, has also said in an interview with Brazilian media outlet Record TV that Antony behaved aggressively towards her in October 2022. In a social media post, the player denied assaulting Lana, insisting the encounter was "intimate and consensual".

After staying silent for three months, United released their first statement on the allegations against Antony on Wednesday but stopped short of suspending him. However, following the fresh allegations from the two other women, the club announced that Antony would not be rejoining the squad for training after the international break in order to address the accusations.

The Brazilian added: "This was a mutual decision to avoid distraction to my team-mates and unnecessary controversy for the club. 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. I look forward to returning to play as soon as possible."

Just 19 days after United gave Antony the leave of absence, it was announced that he would be returning to the squad. The forward returned to Manchester from Brazil on Tuesday and voluntarily attended a five-hour interview with police on Thursday.

United said in a statement: “Since allegations were first made in June, Antony has cooperated with police inquiries in both Brazil and the UK, and he continues to do so. As Antony’s employer, Manchester United has decided that he will resume training at Carrington, and be available for selection, while police inquiries proceed. This will be kept under review pending further developments in the case.

"As a club we condemn acts of violence and abuse.  We recognise the importance of safeguarding all those involved in this situation, and acknowledge the impact these allegations have on survivors of abuse."

The decision paved the way for Antony to play for United in Saturday's Premier League match at home to Crystal Palace and their next Champions League match against Galatasaray on October 3.