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Marco Silva says Bruno Fernandes is a “top professional” after Fulham posted a video on TikTok that appeared to mock the Manchester United captain.
The video shows Fernandes going down and clutching his leg before swiftly getting up again during United’s 2-1 defeat by the Cottagers on Saturday.
United boss Erik ten Hag said Fulham “should apologise” for the video.
“Ten Hag defends his player, I can understand that,” Fulham manager Silva said on Friday.
“When a manager defends one football player, I think it’s a normal situation, I think if it’s one of our players I am going to defend him until the last.”
The 15-second video, which is dubbed with jaunty music, was posted on Fulham’s official TikTok account and captioned: “So glad he’s OK.”
The clip shows Fernandes coming into contact with Fulham midfielder Sasa Lukic and going to ground.
As play continues without a free-kick being awarded, the 29-year-old Portugal midfielder can then be seen quickly getting to his feet and demanding the ball.
“It is not right. Totally out of order and wrong. They should apologise for this,” said Ten Hag in a news conference on Thursday.
Fernandes, who has made 149 Premier League appearances for United since joining from Sporting Lisbon in 2020, was named the club’s captain in July.
Silva said: “He is the captain of Man United, he is a player I know really well and he is a top player, he is a top professional.
“You are not a Man United captain if you don’t have all the package to be in the same box to be a Man United captain and to be so important.”
