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Marco Silva discussed the social media incident involving Bruno Fernandes. (Image: Sky Sports.)
Fulham boss Marco Silva has refused to apologise to Manchester United after his club was accused of mocking Bruno Fernandes on social media. The Whites posted a TikTok video of the Portuguese midfielder in pain on the floor during their contest on Saturday, before he quickly returned to his feet.
The clip was dubbed over with comical music and captioned: "So glad he is OK." Fernandes did remain on the pitch and then played in the midweek FA Cup win at Nottingham Forest despite being an injury doubt, though Erik ten Hag claimed that the post was "not right" and called for Fulham to apologise. The video has not been deleted despite backlash from the Red Devils.
“I didn’t know this, but if they did it I would say it is not right," Ten Hag reacted to the TikTok. "It is absolutely not right that a club makes such a statement, because it is totally out of order and they were wrong so they should apologise for this.”
United have been infuriated with Fulham over the incident and while Silva did defend Fernandes and praised his attitude as a captain, he stopped short of saying sorry to the team they defeated 2-1 thanks to a last-gasp Alex Iwobi winner.
Fulham poked fun at Bruno Fernandes on social media. (Image: Getty)
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“I am not a big fan of social media but as you would expect I am aware of this," Silva said in a press conference on Friday. "It was a reaction from Ten Hag. When a manager defends a football player I think it is a normal situation. With one of our players, I am going to defend them to the last.
"We all noticed that Ten Hag said he had not seen the post. He was speaking after a question from a journalist. I haven’t heard the question - I don’t know how the journalist put that question. For a manager in that moment, if you say to me that 10 minutes ago if any club said something about my player, I am going to defend my player even if I haven’t seen it. That is the situation.”
On Fernandes, Silva added: “Let’s talk about Bruno as well. He is the captain of Manchester United. He is a player that I know really well. He is a top player and a top professional is what I can say about him.
"He is a top quality player and a top professional. You are not a Manchester United captain if you don’t have all the whole package in the same box and be such an imporant player.
"This is important to say. Ten Hag defends his player. I can understand that. All the other noise around and all that stuff comes because it is Man United. I understand everything - it is because it is Manchester United. If it were Marco Silva reacting in one way, it would probably be finished in 10 seconds after.”
