As Manchester United moved a step nearer a cup treble, Fulham mustered a less welcome hat-trick of their own. At a ground with a statue of United’s holy trinity, Fulham instead had their own unholy trinity. On a day when they excelled for 70 minutes, in the end they exited the FA Cup in disgrace. The rarity of three red cards in between the ball being kicked, and at a time when Fulham were still leading, irrevocably altered a quarter-final and enabled United to turn the tie around. Bruno Fernandes and Marcel Sabtizer struck in swift succession with the Portuguese adding an injury-time third as Fulham, like Barcelona and Manchester City before them, led at Old Trafford and then lost.
But not in such extraordinary circumstances. Because if Fulham lost a chance to close in on a first major trophy in their 144-year history, they also lost their heads. Only Willian of the expelled trio could merit any sympathy: he had blocked Jadon Sancho’s shot on the line with his hand in what was almost a brilliant bit of defending. But manager Marco Silva and top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic saw red for their confrontations with referee Christopher Kavanagh. Until then, Silva’s gameplan had been terrific and executed wonderfully and Mitrovic had produced a superb display. Now fines and bans beckon after each let his side down.
