Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes says he was “upset” referee Chris Kavanagh did not apologise for bumping into him ahead of his penalty during the 1-1 draw at Fulham, but insisted the official was not to blame for him missing.
Fernandes skied his first-half spot-kick moments after colliding with the official when he had started his routine.
The score was 0-0 at the time, with United going ahead in the second half through Rodrigo Muniz’s own goal before Emile Smith Rowe earned a point for the home side.
The Portugal midfielder told Sky Sports: “I was upset. Obviously, as every penalty taker, you have your own routines. You have your own things that you do. It upset me because the referee didn’t apologise, and that was what triggered me in that moment.
“But that’s not the excuse to missing the penalty. I just had a very bad hit on the ball. I got my foot too (much) under the ball, and that’s why the ball went over the bar.”
Boss Ruben Amorim admitted that the missed penalty, controversially awarded after Calvin Bassey was adjudged to have hauled down Mason Mount at a set-piece, affected his skipper’s performance.
Amorim added: “I think he’s not used to missing a penalty. He knows the importance that every moment in this context, can have a huge impact in the team. And I felt that during the game, he was like, not so happy, not so involved, because he has so much responsibility.
“And I think he felt that missed penalty, it was huge for us.”
Amorim remains confident his misfiring Manchester United strikeforce will start finding the target soon. “It was a tough match, and when we scored the goal we forgot about maintaining the way we play and tried to maintain the result. We want to win so bad,” said United boss Amorim.
“After the goals we were just thinking about maintaining the advantage and we cannot do that. We have to grow up a lot as a team.
“The feeling is there. We are going to score goals because we are creating chances and that is the most important thing.
“He (Sesko) needs time. It’s not easy to come off the bench when the game is really fast. He is learning the game is faster than the Bundesliga but he had some good connections with his team-mates.”
Fulham boss Marco Silva felt there was a push on Calvin Bassey for United’s goal and was also less than impressed with the penalty decision, saying “I think what I saw, everybody saw what happened in terms of VAR decisions.”
He added: “Apart from the first 20 minutes we did not give them any big moments.
“They scored a goal and our reaction was top level in my opinion. The players kept their composure, their balance and kept to the plan. We controlled the game well and scored a great goal.”