The really unfortunate thing for Fulham was that the piece of football that initially sparked one of the most unfathomable five minutes of the season looked at first sight to have been rather heroic.
Having made a bad judgement call when trying to intercept the ball on the half way line, Fulham’s Brazilian Willian set off with not particularly characteristic zeal back towards his own goal to try and retrieve the situation.
Willian got there, too. With his team leading by a goal and on top of a Manchester United team looking tired, flat and largely impotent , his block on the goal line from Jadon Sancho felt and looked inspired. He had run more than half the length of the field at full tilt.
The problem was that the ball had come off his arm as it deflected wide of the post. It wasn’t necessarily his fault but it was clear on the TV replays. So as referee Chris Kavanagh looked at the VAR monitor on the touchline, we all thought we knew what was coming. A red card and a penalty for United.
That, it turned out, was only the half of it. What to say about what happened next other than it represented one of the most remarkable passages of communal self-harm we have seen on a football field for some time.
As Kavanagh looked at his monitor, Fulham manager Marco Silva approached with something to say. Rather too much, it transpired. He was sent off. Then, as Kavanagh pointed to the penalty spot, he was approached and shoved on the upper arm by centre forward and Fulham goal scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic. He was also sent off.
Bruno
Then, belatedly, it was Willian’s turn to walk for the original offence. So three had gone in the space of a minute. On the field Fulham had gone from eleven players to nine without a ball being kicked and Willian was the only one to go quietly.
Silva had something to say to United manager Erik ten Hag before he walked his walk. Mitrovic looked ready to take on the world and not in a good way.
When it all settled down, and it did eventually, Bruno Fernandes rolled in the penalty that cancelled out Mitrovic’s 50th minute volley. Ninety seconds later Luke Shaw crossed low for Marcel Sabitzer to put United ahead. Fernandes made it three with the last kick of the game and United were in the semi-final at the end of an afternoon that had seen them dominated for more than an hour.
Fulham will feel hard done by but shouldn’t do. This was their own fault. Silva is their manager and Mitrovic their most high profile player. Fulham may just have survived an equaliser and the loss of one player. Ten men have been known to win a game of football. Nine? Not so often. So when Fulham seek out culprits for this turnaround, they should really not look very far.
Abuse of officials is rife in football and this was one occasion when a referee decided he would not stand for it.
Fulham had come to play and compete and that had been heartening. Mitrovic had been superb up until he lost his head. Moments before, his header from a free-kick had been clawed away by United goalkeeper David de Gea. At 2-0, Fulham would have been pretty much in the last four. As it, United’s season of progress goes on.
Silva’s team selection spoke of intent and so did his team’s early football. United, meanwhile, have been here before recently. Ten Hag’s team have recovered admirably from the 7-0 defeat at Liverpool but are starting to look leggy as they continue to make progress in the Europa League. Thursday night football does take its toll in the end.
The United manager was forced in to a couple of changes here with Casemiro suspended and Rafael Varane injured. The replacements were decent, mind, with Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire filling in.
For the first 20 minutes or more, Fulham were comfortably superior. Former United squad player Andreas Pereira was effective in midfield, as was the Brazilian, once of Chelsea and Arsenal. Up front, meanwhile the target was the formidable Mitrovic.
The Serbian is at his most dangerous in the air but was central defender Issa Dip who forced De Gea to tip over the bar in the second minute. Then, five minutes later, a lovely link up between Pereira and Willian provided Willian with a shooting chance from 18 yards and his right foot effort swerved wide of De Gea’s left hand post.
United were quiet early on. They could not secure consistent possession and therefore struggled for territory. One break down the left did see Marcus Rashford switch play infield to Wout Weghorst but the Dutchman’s left foot shot was weak. At the other end a low Tim Ream cross was begging to be nudged in to the goal but seemed instead to leave everybody transfixed. Then Mitrovic went down after a tangle with Lisandro Martinez in the penalty area only for replays to reveal it had been the Fulham player who initiated the contact. Soon after that, Mitrovic rose highest to meet an Antonee Robinson cross but his header flew up and not down.
It was a decent game at this point but probably needed a Fulham goal to really ignite it. When that didn’t arrive, United slowly began to impose themselves. Rashford was released down the left in the 32nd minute but Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno weas able to smother. Then Subitzer drove hard only for Leno to parry and a nice overlap from the Austrian then saw him cross low and maybe half a yard in front of Rashford.
Just before half-time, Weghorst nudged a superbly weighted lay-off in to the path of Sancho and when he in turn fed McTominay it needed a tackle from Ream to prevent the Scot opening the scoring from seven yards.
That period off play just before the interval felt as though it may spark improvement in United but it didn’t come to pass. Instead it was Fulham who began the second half with the greater forward rhythm and their goal arrived within five minutes.
A flurry of activity saw Willian heavily involved. His backheel in the penalty area in the 47th allowed Robinson to shoot and De Gea touched the ball over. From the corner, the ball was recycled to Willian once again. This time De Gea was full stretch to turn the shot from 18 yards round the post.
The third time United were not so lucky. Pereira’s corner towards the near post was helped on by Diop and Mitrovic arrived at the far to volley in from six yards.
It was a lead that Fulham deserved and once they took it they continued to press forwards, perhaps feeling they may need another goal to actually win the game against a United team familiar with late comebacks.
Ten Hag’s response was to throw a forward, Antony, on for a holding player, McTominay. This reshuffle enabled Rashford to move in to a central striking position with Weghorst sitting in behind him.
One chance arrived almost immediately as a Martinez long ball was headed wide to Rashford. He then played it back infield to Fernandes who shot wide. Mitrovoc continued to be a nuisance at the other end, though. Oner header in the 66th minute required a clawed save from De Gea. Then, when the ball was played back in, another header from the same player drifted wide with the Spanish goalkeeper stranded.
With less than 25 minutes to go, Fulham were comfortable if not entirely in control. Then, in the space of one counter attack, everything changed.
United broke out from their own half in the 70th minute and Antony led the charge down the right. His pass inside to Sancho gave his team-mate the chance to level the game only for him to be denied on the line by Willian after jinking past Leno and leaving Harrison Reed on the floor. It had been a heroic dash back by Willian but unfortunately the ball had been deflected past the post from his arm.
As referee Kavanagh checked the pitch side monitor it was clear a red card and a penalty were forthcoming. What really killed Fulham was what happened next. At 1-1 with ten men, Fulham may have had a prayer. With nine they didn’t.
After the chaos had given way once again to some football. Fernandes rolled in the penalty. Then less than two minutes later, Shaw crossed low from the left and Subitzer backheeled the ball in.
By now Old Trafford was alive and Fulham were not. Fernandes’ strike in the fifth minute of seven added felt cruel. By then, the bulk of the damage had been done. By Fulham.