Bruno Fernandes was left “triggered” and “upset” by what he considered poor conduct from referee Chris Kavanagh in the moments before striking a penalty over the crossbar during Manchester United’s 1–1 draw with Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
United were awarded the first half penalty following a VAR review into Fulham defender Calvin Bassey’s manhandling of Mason Mount as a set-piece was delivered—it marks a crackdown this season from officials on pushing and pulling in the penalty area.
But as Fernandes carefully placed the ball on the spot and started stepping backwards to pace out his run-up, Kavanagh walked across his path and nonchalantly bumped into the United captain.
Fernandes looked incredulous as he glared in the referee’s direction, clearly angered. He tried to reset himself and begin the process over again, but skied the subsequent effort.
The Portugal international said after the match, which later saw United pegged back after initially taking the lead through centre back Leny Yoro, the episode could not be an excuse for missing the penalty. But he admitted it had rubbed him up the wrong way.
“I was upset,” Fernandes told Sky Sports.
“As a penalty taker, you have your own routines, your own thing that you do.
“It upset me because the referee didn’t apologise and that is what triggered me in that moment. But that’s not an excuse for missing the penalty. I just had a very bad hit on the ball. I put my foot too much under the ball and that’s why it ended up going over the bar.”
United remain win-less in the Premier League after two rounds of fixtures in the new season. Ruben Amorim’s side impressed during last week’s narrow 1–0 defeat to Arsenal and started very brightly against Fulham too. But even though United went ahead not long after half-time, the Cottagers were arguably the stronger side in the second half and a draw was probably fairest result.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘It Upset Me’—Bruno Fernandes Explains Fury at Referee Before Costly Penalty Miss.
