arc silva seemed to suggest that umpire Chris Kavanagh is always on a treat Fulham heavy handed, after Willian and Aleksandar Mitrovic and the manager were sent off in Fulham’s 3-1 FA cup quarterfinal defeat Manchester United.
Fulham led 1–0 at Old Trafford through a second-half goal from Mitrovic and looked poised for a first FA Cup semi-final in 21 years.
But Willian acted on the line, was duly fired, and Silva and Mitrovic soon followed due to their strong protests. Bruno Fernandes scored twice and Marcel Sabitzer also found the net as United turned the tie upside down and nine men sent Fulham out.
“On the field we were the best team up to that point”, Silva looked back after the game. “It’s hard for us to understand. Chris [Kavanagh] was in a game we played at West Ham, where we lost with two clear handballs. We have received the apologies for the errors.
“The last [FA Cup] game [against] Leeds in the FA Cup he was again. And for a match that’s the quarter-finals, it’s him again – it’s hard to understand. Of course we respect that he is a top referee in this country, I accept that. But unfortunately for us, it has been really unlucky for us this season.
Silva became the first Premier League manager this season to be suspended when he was forced to watch Sunderland’s FA Cup fourth round replay from the stands in February after receiving too many yellow cards for his impassioned protests from the touchline .
“Let’s talk about the whole game and not just one moment,” said Silva. “Until the penalty kick and the red cards, we were clearly the best team on the field. For me it was a decision for the VAR to make.
“What’s hard to understand is why the two moments in the box in the first half – one of them is an obvious penalty kick and no one checks – no one sees.”
United manager Erik Ten Hag praised the visitors at Old Trafford, who broke the deadlock through Mitrovic, who was eventually sent off.
He said: “Fulham are a good team and you have to be good to beat them. I think we had a good first half. We had great moments in the attacking transition and we should have been up two or three goals.
“I don’t want to emphasize that,” he said of Fulham’s three red cards. “It was a great counter-attack, but I think everyone saw it was handball.”