Bernd Leno is already cherished among the Fulham faithful; now he is a hero.
Saves from penalties by Victor Lindelof and Joshua Zirkzee ensured it was the visitors who came through a tense shootout unscathed at the Stretford End. Fulham and holders Manchester United played out 120 minutes of nail-biting yet pretty mediocre football, and in the end it was Fulham for whom an FA Cup quarter-final awaits.
A London derby on home soil, too. They face Crystal Palace at Craven Cottage. That must feel like a tasty reward for a Sunday afternoon’s awfully hard graft, and reward on a personal level for Leno.
The German cost just £3million rising to £8m including add-ons when Fulham signed him from Arsenal in 2022. Quite why the Gunners cast him aside in favour of Aaron Ramsdale is immaterial now. What is material is that he got Fulham over the line at Old Trafford after a 1-1 draw in which Calvin Bassey and Bruno Fernandes had struck for either side.
Though Marco Silva insisted he did not have revenge on his mind, Fulham fans have been unable to shake thoughts of such a narrative since these two clubs were drawn against each other. It was two seasons ago now, in the quarter-finals, that Fulham led 1-0 in the 71st minute, before Silva, Willian and Aleksandar Mitrovic were all sent off inside 60 seconds and United eventually prevailed, 3-1.
Besides a 2-1 league win at Old Trafford last February in which Alex Iwobi struck a 97th-minute winner, facing the Red Devils has proven quite an infuriating assignment for Fulham in recent seasons — a lot of impressive performances that garnered nothing, a lot of agonising one-goal defeats.
That appeared to play on their minds early on, as United’s intense pressing prompted uncharacteristic errors from Antonee Robinson, Bassey — who played at full throttle throughout — and others. Fulham had difficulty pinning down the influential Christian Erisken, who was afforded the time to show off his passing range and to strike on goal, with Leno pushing wide.
Once United tired slightly from their rampant pressing, Fulham could finally ease into the game. Bassey rouletting around Eriksen and out of trouble was a source of much hilarity to the travelling fans in the away end; Sasa Lukic splitting the centre-backs and then heading a sitter over the bar was not.
Bassey was not so wasteful, heading the opening goal past Andre Onana from a wonderfully worked Fulham corner — Andreas Pereira’s out-swinger knocked on by Rodrigo Muniz for Bassey to turn in.
This was a cup tie short on quality when it really mattered, but Fulham were undone by the hosts’ one superb move of the match as Diogo Dalot burned down the left and pulled back for Fernandes. Leno was powerless to prevent such a cultured finish levelling things up.
Fulham and United both left gaping holes in midfield in the final 20 minutes of normal time and throughout extra time, with Emile Smith Rowe twice denied the winner by a pair of sprawling Onana saves and Bassey twice fortunate that 17-year-old substitute Chido Obi struck wide after outsmarting him.
Extra time was frantic, an end-to-end hodgepodge of unforced errors and ugly first touches. Though Fulham could have snuck it with Willian’s last-minute free-kick, caught by Onana, it was Obi who came closest, drawing the best from Leno: a one-handed save from point-blank range.
It earned the goalkeeper the right to contest a penalty shootout. From there, he took things into his own hands, watching his team-mates score all four of their penalties — Raul Jimenez, Sander Berge, Willian and Robinson — before returning Lindelof and Zirkzee’s efforts back out to them and keeping those in the away end firmly in their seats long after the United fans had made for the exit. Never entirely clear until it was over, this was Fulham's day.
