Nine-man Fulham miss out on semi-final
Fulham’s hopes of reaching the FA Cup semi-finals were left in tatters after a dramatic second-half spell at Old Trafford in which they conceded two goals and had two players sent off.
Aleksandar Mitrovic put the Whites ahead but Willian’s handball and Mitrovic’s protests led to both being red-carded and Bruno Fernandes equalising with the resulting penalty.
With Fulham boss Marco Silva having also been sent off, Marcel Sabitzer put Manchester United in front.
In the final moments, Fernandes thumped in his second and the third goal for United, who will face Brighton at Wembley for a place in the final.
It was rough on Fulham, who were the better side in the first half and took the lead early in the second, just after keeper David De Gea had tipped over a shot from Antonee Robinson and tipped wide a strike from Willian.
Andreas Pereira’s right-wing corner was flicked on by Issa Diop towards Mitrovic, who fired home.
De Gea was called into action again midway through the second half, diving to his right to push away Mitrovic’s header as Fulham continued to threaten.
But the tide turned against them in dramatic fashion when they suddenly found themselves down to nine men with their lead wiped out.
Antony sped away down the right and teed up Jadon Sancho, who rounded keeper Bernd Leno but was denied a goal by Willian using an arm to block his shot.
Silva was shown the red card for protesting to referee Chris Kavanagh as the official checked the pitchside monitor.
And when the penalty was awarded and Willian sent off, Mitrovic lost his cool and shoved Kavanagh, and was promptly also red-carded.
Fernandes tucked away the spot-kick and worse followed for Fulham a couple of minutes later when Luke Shaw pulled the ball back from the left for Sabitzer to score from close range.
Fulham: Leno, Tete (Soares 89), Diop, Ream, Robinson, Palhinha, Reed (James 90), Pereira (Cairney 90), De Cordova-Reid (Solomon 90), Mitrovic, Willian.
Subs not used: Rodak, Tosin, Cedric, Lukic, Wilson, James, Vinicius.
