Marco Silva refused to apologise for Fulham’s Tiktok poking fun at Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes for feigning injury – but struck a diplomatic note during his pre-match press conference in an attempt to end sensationalist coverage of the social media spat this week.
Responding after Manchester United manager Eric ten Hag called on Fulham to say sorry for the video, Silva said:
“I am not a big fan of social media but as you would expect I am aware of this. 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.”
Silva also stuck up for his compatriot Fernandes.
“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 ten seconds after.”
