Aleksandar Mitrovic shoved referee Chris Kavanagh during Man Utd v Fulham two years ago (Image: Getty)
face Fulham in the today two years after Aleksandar Mitrovic in an ill-disciplined quarter-final tie at Old Trafford. The extraordinary moment came amid growing abuse of officials and players were later warned that a referee could be killed after a spate of incidents.
Mitrovic, who later received an eight-game ban, was furious with the decision to award United a penalty as Fulham let a 1-0 lead slip and exited the cup. The Serbian striker, who now plays for Al-Hilal, forcefully pushed Kavanagh and was shown a red card.
Willian and Fulham boss Marco Silva also saw red as the Cottagers lost their heads.
Mitrovic’s shove came weeks after a less vicious push by on referee Adam Nunn. English official Anthony Taylor was then confronted by hundreds of Roma fans after their team lost that year’s Europa League final against Sevilla.
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There were fears that the growing abuse of referees would filter down to grassroots football, where the lack of cameras could lead to more serious incidents taking place. Speaking to Express Sport in 2023, RefSupportUK CEO Martin Cassidy warned that the ‘next step’ would be a referee being killed.
Cassidy said: “The incident has been diluted. Adam Nunn (the assistant referee) was trying to prevent him from running to , doing a good job of preventing Fernandes from fighting a Scouser in front of the Kop. But it was Nunn who got shoved in the back by Fernandes.
“Then there was the Mitrovic incident, and this evolution of terrible behaviour makes me worry that the next step is a match official being killed. The FA are doing their bit but what are UEFA doing? They’ve done very little to address racism, so I’ve got no confidence that they will stop referee abuse.”
Aleksandar Mitrovic was shown a red card after shoving Chris Kanavagh (Image: Getty)
Two years on, the situation has hardly improved. Michael Oliver received death threats and had his home placed under police protection following his contentious decision to send off ’s Myles Lewis-Skelly against Wolves last month.
have since been fined £65,000 after their players were deemed to have behaved in an improper manner, having surrounded Oliver following the red card. The same official was also involved in a feisty Merseyside derby weeks later, with and Everton receiving fines for their involvement. was shown a red card for confronting Oliver at full-time.
Referee Stuart Attwell will hope for an incident-free meeting between United and Fulham today.