100% dribbles, 7 ground duels won, 6 long balls, 4 key passes: United star didn’t deserve painful loss vs. Fulham

Manchester United are out of the FA Cup after losing to Marco Silva’s Fulham in a penalty shootout at Old Trafford.

Fulham took the lead seconds before the break courtesy of Calvin Bassey. Rodrigo Muniz headed Andreas Pereira’s corner into the path of Bassey, who headed it into the back of the net.

Ruben Amorim’s men struggled to break down Fulham’s stubborn defence for large parts of the game but Fernandes produced a moment of magic, equalising with a brilliant left-footed finish from 16 yards.

Alejandro Garnacho had a few chances to score but couldn’t hit the target with any of his efforts. Substitute Chido Obi was electric when he came on and nearly got on the score sheet but was thwarted by Bernd Leno.

After 120 minutes, a penalty shootout was needed to split the two sides and it was Fulham who prevailed, with Victor Lindelof and Joshua Zirkzee both missing from the spot-kick.

Fernandes was one of the few United players who was good from start to finish and it’s no surprise he was named the man of the match.

The United skipper touched the ball 101 times and found his teammates with 48 of the 70 passes he attempted. Four of these were key passes.

He successfully connected with four of the 10 crosses he aimed and six of the 16 long balls he pinged.

Three of Fernandes’ shots were on target and required Leno to swing into action but the Fulham goalkeeper was beaten just once.

Fernandes embarked on two dribbles and completed all of them. The Portugal international won seven of the 13 ground duels he delved into and six of the aerial challenges he contested.

He drew three fouls and made as many clearances. The 30-year-old also put in two tackles and intercepted the ball twice.

(Stats obtained from Sofascore)

It was another excellent performance from Fernandes but unfortunately, it didn’t count for an awful lot at the end of the day. For Fernandes and his teammates, all attention now shifts to Thursday’s Europa League meeting with Real Sociedad.

Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images

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