Antony is enjoying some strong form since his loan exit from Manchester United in January

Manchester United forward Antony continued his fine start to life with Real Betis as he played the entire fixture as his loan club defeated reigning La Liga champions Real Madrid 2-1 on Saturday.

Brahim Diaz opened the scoring after 10 minutes but Isco swung in a corner for Johnny Cardoso to head in and equalise with Isco then scoring from the penalty spot in the 54th minute as Madrid dropped three points behind Barcelona in the La Liga title race. Barca beat Real Sociedad 4-0 on Sunday with Sociedad now tasked with picking themselves up as they host United in the Europa League on Thursday.

Antony played his part for Betis as he enjoyed a 90 per cent pass success rate while also making six tackles as he chipped in strongly with the defensive effort.

Antony sends message after win

After the victory, Antony took to Instagram to celebrate the victory. Sharing a set of photos of the game, the United forward wrote: “What an incredible night it was!”. One of the images showed him and matchwinner Isco with the former Real Madrid man simply commenting “Goat” under the image alongside some emojis.

The post also received a reaction from Arsenal midfielder and England international Declan Rice who liked the images. Former Liverpool and West Ham goalkeeper Adrian was also among those to react as he commented: “So much magic in one image.” Adrian is now with Real Betis after rejecting a new contract at Anfield in the summer.

Prior to his loan move to Spain, Antony had scored just once all season. That came in a 7-0 League Cup win over Barnsley back in September. Since joining Betis, he has scored three goals in seven games and only been on the losing side twice. He was sent off against Getafe last weekend but had that red card overturned which allowed him to feature against Madrid.

Will Antony stay at Real Betis beyond his loan?

Speaking in February, Antony said he knew he’d be happy joining Betis and has so far proved himself right. Speaking after a 3-0 win over Gent in the Europa Conference League, he said: “I had other proposals, but when Betis appeared I felt a certainty in my heart that made me stay calm. I'm happy here and I want to conquer many goals. I'm happy here for everyone, for the coach and the players. I feel calm and confident. I want to find my best version and the first step is to be happy.

“Everything here is incredible, my family and I are happy. Now it's time to work to be at my best and help the club in everything. I'm going to give my life at Betis, not only in the match but in training. I will always do that. It's 100 per cent that I'm going to do that.”

Asked last month if Antony could remain at Betis beyond his loan, CEO of the La Liga side Ramón Alarcón said: "Yes, I think so. It is a possibility, why not?" He added at the time: "I got a call from Manchester United's CEO the other day thanking me as we had sent them a detailed report done by our coaches of Antony, which included with information of his performance and a summary of his week. They hadn't received that from the other clubs where they have players on loan. They can see that we are looking after their asset because Antony belongs to Manchester United."