Bruno Fernandes has said the rule that earns a player a yellow card for taking off their shirt when celebrating a goal “has to change” after the Manchester United winger Amad Diallo was sent off for a second caution after scoring a dramatic late winner against Liverpool in their FA Cup quarter-final.
The 21-year-old had come on in the 85th minute with United a goal down but Antony made it 2-2 with three minutes remaining and Erik ten Hag’s side went on to win the game in extra time, Amad scoring in the 121st minute to send them through.
As part of the wild celebrations, Amad took off his shirt and was shown a second yellow card by the referee, John Brooks. Fernandes praised the winger for his goal and said that players must be allowed to show emotion after scoring.
“He got his reward because he’s doing the right things,” Fernandes said of the Ivorian. “He deserves it. Unfortunately, he got sent off, but it’s part of the moment and part of being young.
“This moment has to be enjoyed and I think it’s one of the rules football has to change because you should be able to celebrate the goal, obviously with respect to other clubs, to enjoy your moment.”
The Manchester United captain, who towards the end was playing as a deep-sitting midfielder in front of the back three, at times dropping in to help Harry Maguire in defence almost like an extra centre-half, added that the dramatic win meant Ten Hag’s side could still end the season on a high.
“Today the game got a little bit spicy, a little more special because it’s an FA Cup game and if you lose, you’re out. We know the rivalry between fans, we know how United fans wanted us to win the game to give us something to celebrate because it’s not been great for us.
“We’ve talked about turnarounds [before] but have never done the next step. But I think we have to understand the FA Cup is a thing and the Premier League is another one. In the league now, we have 10 matches to go and we don’t depend on ourselves but as we saw Tottenham losing points to Fulham, Villa losing points to West Ham. But our main goal is to not lose points to Brentford away. We need to put our effort into winning that game.”
United face Coventry in their semi-final after the Championship side beat Wolves away in an even more dramatic quarter-final on Saturday. Mark Robins’ side were 2-1 down going into added time but emerged victorious after strikes from Ellis Simms and Haji Wright, the last coming in the 100th minute.
Fernandes warned against any semi-final complacency. “We’re playing a Championship team and not a Premier League team, but Wolves went out against them,” he said. “We don’t want to compare ourselves with Wolves but we have to respect every team that comes here because I remember two seasons ago we went out against Middlesbrough at home.
“We have to respect them, give them the respect they deserve and give our best performance, as we did against Liverpool and with the same mentality.”
