Harry Maguire showcases Man Utd captain credentials in Fulham incident

Harry Maguire showcased exactly why he is the current Manchester United captain in Sunday’s FA Cup win over Fulham when he confronted Issa Diop over scuffing the penalty spot. The England international defender was furious when he noticed that the Frenchman was tampering with the turf in an attempt to disrupt Bruno Fernandes’ resulting spot-kick.

United were awarded a penalty following a VAR check after Willian had handled the ball off the line.

Jadon Sancho had cleverly worked his way around Bernd Leno before firing towards goal but ex-Arsenal and Chelsea winger Willan sneakily parried the ball away.

Despite claiming it hit his midriff, Willian was handed his marching orders by referee Chris Kavanagh before Aleksandr Mitrovic was also shown a red card for pushing the official.

All while this was going on, fresh footage has since shown there was even more chaos unfolding in the penalty area as Maguire and Diop came to blows.

It appears the Fulham defender had been attempting to scuff the penalty spot while Kavanagh was addressing both Willian and Mitrovic and Maguire caught onto the sneaky antics after being notified by winger Antony.

The Brazilian had begun protecting the penalty spot while striker Wout Weghorst attempted to rectify the damage to the turf.

The United captain quickly came bounding over and began to shout at Diop, wagging his finger and pushing Diop away.

Diop was having none of it though and pretended to ignore and dismiss Maguire while arguing with Marcel Sabitzer.

Once he had finished, Diop then went back over to Maguire to address the situation, although it would matter very little in the end as Fernandes converted the penalty.

Unfortunately for Fulham, United were quick to capitalise on their moments of madness as Sabitzer added a quick-fire second for the Red Devils.

Fernandes then added some gloss to the scoreline when he rifled the ball home to make it 3-1 in the closing stages of the match.

United will now face Brighton in the semi-final at Wembley and could meet Manchester City or Sheffield United in the final should they be victorious.

Maguire will miss the semi-final against the Seagulls through suspension after he was booked for dragging down Mitrovic in the first half.

The United captain was a late replacement for Raphael Varane who was forced to drop out of the matchday squad due to a late injury.

Speaking after the game, Erik ten Hag made it clear he felt VAR had an easy decision to send Willian off as he backed the use of the video technology: “It was so clear and obvious.

“Handball in the box is a clear penalty. But it’s not for me to comment on them. It’s for me to talk about Manchester United and that’s it.”