FA Cup: Mitrovic, Willian see red in United's comeback

Drama at Old Trafford as Fulham suffer red cards and Marco Silva criticizes referee Chris Kavanagh in FA Cup quarterfinals.

The melee that followed the sending off of Willian led to Marco Silva and Aleksander Mitrovic receiving their marching orders too. United won 3-1 to advance to the semifinals. (Photo credit: The Athletic)

The FA Cup will always serve delicious content, but the drama we saw at Old Trafford on Sunday left us batting our eyelids like a bird in the rain.

Fulham raced to a one-goal lead, and when they thought they were home and dry, Willian handled on the goal line.

And referee Chris Kavanagh sent him off and awarded a penalty.

The spot kick was duly converted by Bruno Fernandes, but the melee that preceded the equaliser deserves some scrutiny.

Aleksander Mitrovic was sent off for pushing and shoving the referee, reducing the Lilywhites to nine men.

Right in the passage of bookings, Marco Silva also saw red, and his post-match conference didn’t spare the officials.

On Kavanagh, Marco Silva spoke to the Athletic: "Our story with Chris Kavanagh has been really tough for us as a football club. Before the match, we didn’t mention anything to the player. It’s the quarterfinal of the FA Cup; let’s do our best to play the semi-finals of the FA Cup. It was really our goal. We showed that during the 75 minutes. But they know who is the referee.

"They know the West Ham game away from home. When we lost the game with two handball goals. Clear handball goals. It was Chris Kavanagh in that moment. This afternoon everyone saw what happened in this game. It’s difficult for them to look for these types of things. We cannot waste time in that situation. I didn’t speak with him.

Fernandes scored late in the game to make it 3-1, but Erik Ten Hag insists his team was the better side even before the red card, but Marco Silva would disagree.

United will play Brighton and Hove in the semifinals, while City will play championship side Sheffield United.

 Information from The Athletic was used in this report