Well, Manchester United completed a comeback against Marco Silva's Fulham to progress to the semi-finals of the Emirates FA Cup on Sunday evening, but that isn't dominating the headlines due to the incident that ensued during the match.
A Bruno Fernandes brace and Marcel Sabitzer's worldie ensured Manchester United were still in the race for yet another trophy while heading into the international break but some minutes of madness from Marco Silva and his players are the major talking points of events that transpired at Old Trafford.
The Cottagers held it down with the Red Devils; they were not going to allow Erik Ten Hag's side to dictate the tempo of the game or allow them much time on the ball. Already taking a 1-0 lead in the 53rd minute, Marco Silva's side were not backing down just yet as they pushed for another, keeping Manchester United's defense on their toes and David De Gea busy.
However, a sudden breakaway on the counter left Manchester United's Antony and Jadon Sancho with just one defender to beat. Antony laid a fine pass to Jadon Sancho, who rounded the goal keeper beat another Fulham's defender before firing home but Fulham's winger Willian came out of nowhere to keep the ball out.
While fans were upset about Jadon Sancho not getting the ball into the net, Manchester United's players flocked around referee Chris Kavanagh, appealing for a penalty. Replays showed that Willian's hands rather than his body came into contact with the ball, diverting it to the side of the net.
And this was the moment that, when Fulham lost their heads, a calm Chris Kavanagh had to consult the VAR to confirm that Willian indeed intercepted the ball with his hands. While he was still trying to carefully watch the VAR replays, Fulham's manager Marco Silva was shouting some words at him and Chris Kavanagh had to stop his VAR consultation to show Marco Silva a straight red card.
After getting done with the VAR and his mental make-up, he pointed to the penalty spot and gave Willian his matching orders. Fulham's striker Mitrovic, who scored the Cottagers goal, went into full rage, fiercely confronting the referee for his decision, and at one point got his hands on Chris Kavanagh, who had no choice but to show the Serbian a red card, making it three red cards for the visitors in the space of a few seconds. Fulham's bench had to rush onto the pitch to stop Mitrovic from complicating issues any further.
The striker and Willian joined their manager in the tunnel, and while the duo went for an early shower, Marco Silva stood in the tunnel and watched the rest of the game.
Bruno Fernandes converted the penalty, sending Leno the wrong way. Now down to no men, Manchester United finally took control of the game at Old Trafford as Marcel Sabitzer gave Manchester United the lead minutes later and Bruno Fernandes scored a stunner deep into stoppage time to bury the game.
Marco Silva clearly wasn't the happiest person at Old Trafford as he slammed the match officials and accused Chris Kavanagh of always officiating Fulham's games in a poor manner.
However, fans of Fulham weren't so happy with their players, especially Mitrovic, whom they accused of being responsible for Fulham's loss. They stated Marco Silva's lack of discipline was a reflection of his players' attitude.
Below are a number of comments from fans on social media.
"I’ve never seen a team commit football suicide as well as what I saw today 🤦🏼♂️" one Fulham fan commented.
To the above comments another responded: "That was quite unprofessional from them, but hopefully they've learnt from their mistakes.
Any player impressed you today?"
One condemned Mitrovic's actions, "Played well but luck discipline... How can you comfront the referee like that when it was a clear handball by William 🙄🙄"
A Manchester United's fan blamed Fulham's players stating "You have yourselves to blame.. the team lacked discipline
Thanks Mitrovic for putting your hands on the referee.
THIS IS OLD TRAFFORD!"
Another called out Fulham's manager Marco Silva in a different comment
"As a fan who traveled all the way to the game I couldn’t be more disappointed at my manager right now. Your attitude reflects on your players, there was no need to throw the game the way you did, regardless of the decision on the penalty. You need to have restraint and respect. The game wasn’t lost with 10 men and 1-1. But the minute you can’t control yourself, your players will do the same…
It’s even more disappointing because this will also hit our league campaign with a huge ban for Mitro no doubt for man handling the ref and threatening him…
Heartbreaking trip to Manchester after dominating the game. We deserved better than that sad ending. I can take any loss, but this one will take some time to get over."
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