Bruno Fernandes sets the record straight on incident that left Man Utd star fuming

Bruno Fernandes refused to blame Chris Kavanagh for his penalty miss in Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Fulham on Sunday afternoon after the referee accidently bumped into him just before his spot-kick - but was left unimpressed by Kavanagh's failure to apologise.

The Red Devils were awarded a penalty by Kavanagh after the referee was told to review an incident involving Mason Mount and Calvin Bassey which saw the former being pulled to the ground by his opponent during a corner in the first half. But Fernandes was unable to take advantage of a golden opportunity to break the deadlock and skied his effort over the crossbar.

Sky Sports pointed out that Kavanagh had accidently bumped into Fernandes as he prepared to take his penalty, something which seemed to leave the Manchester United captain frustrated.

And while Fernandes admitted he was unhappy that Kavanagh did not apologise, he shouldered the blame for missing from the spot.

When he was asked if the incident affected his concentration post-match on Sky Sports, Fernandes replied: "Yeah, 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 the moment. But that’s not the excuse to missing the penalty. I just had a very bad hit on the ball. I took my foot too under the ball and that’s why the ball ended up going over the bar."

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Gary Neville reacted to the incident while on commentary for Sky Sports and pointed out that Kavanagh may have affected Fernandes' concentration, albeit inadvertently. Neville said: "He [Kavanagh] picked the ball up, then he bundles into referee a bit. He gave him a bit of a bump by accident, and he goes back. It just unnerved him a little bit.

"I thought it was because the referee was adjusting the players on the edge of the box, but he's still having a go, Bruno Fernandes , at the referee, because he feels that was a little bit clumsy."

An own goal from Rodrigo Muniz broke the deadlock just before the hour mark before Emile Smith Rowe plundered an equaliser in the 73rd minute to prevent United from bagging maximum points.

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