LONDON – Erik ten Hag has accused Nottingham Forest of deliberately targeting Bruno Fernandes in Manchester United’s FA Cup fifth-round win on Feb 28, as he slammed “pathetic” criticism of the midfielder.
The United captain featured in the Red Devils’ 1-0 victory at the City Ground despite a “serious injury” suffered in last weekend’s 2-1 English Premier League loss against Fulham.
Just when it seemed like the game was going into extra time, he delivered the free kick that Casemiro converted in the 89th minute to seal a quarter-final clash with bitter rivals Liverpool.
Fernandes was on the receiving end of robust challenges from Forest throughout the 90 minutes, just days after he was the butt of social media jokes following his injury against Fulham.
Fulham’s official TikTok account even poked fun at him for appearing to feign the problem on Feb 24.
However, United boss ten Hag said that Fernandes has often played through the pain barrier after the kind of rough tackling he was subjected to by Forest, which left him limping at full time.
“I don’t want to go into that because you saw that Forest was targeting him, so I don’t tell what he has but it was a serious injury,” the Dutchman said.
“There were many fouls on him. When he has the ball they were really tight on him. Then I see that media criticises him and social media is pathetic, and it can’t be.
“He has a serious injury, but he continued to play on Saturday... today he also fought to be part of the game and he has a very high pain threshold.
“It shows his leadership because that expresses his character and that is very good when you are a leader.”
United, who next face Manchester City in the Premier League on March 3, kept alive their last chance of winning silverware this season despite a scrappy display.
But ten Hag knows that facing quadruple-chasing Liverpool in the last eight means his team are far from certain to land the second trophy of his troubled two-year reign.
“There are many good teams in the Premier League. Liverpool at this moment is top but it is a great challenge and we are really looking forward to it,” he added.
“We like the challenges. It’s a great game for us. But, first of all, we are now looking forward to Sunday.”
Liverpool beat second-tier Southampton 3-0 at home, inspired by teenagers Jayden Danns and Lewis Koumas.
Three days after Jurgen Klopp’s young side beat Chelsea 1-0 to win the League Cup final, Danns bagged his first goal for the senior side before adding a second late in the game.
Meanwhile, Koumas, whose father Jason was a former Wales international, scored on his first-team debut.
The 18-year-old received a superb pass from Bobby Clark before shooting into the bottom corner via a deflection off Jack Stephens just before half-time.
Danns, also 18, netted his first in the 73rd minute when he dinked the ball over goalkeeper Joe Lumley.
He scored again 15 minutes later after pouncing on a loose ball.
With injuries to many key players, including Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez, manager Klopp fielded a young team against Southampton – 23 spots below them in England’s football pyramid.
“It was an incredible game. It was so intense and they ran themselves into the ground, we needed to find a way and we did that,” Klopp said.
“The whole situation is horribly difficult. It’s really difficult because we unfortunately have too many games for not enough players. But so far we found somehow a solution and we have to keep doing that.
“It’s great to be in the quarter-finals and we don’t take these things for granted.” AFP, REUTERS
