Erik ten Hag has demanded a Premier League club apologise to a Manchester United star over a 'pathetic' social media post.
With so many of his Man United players sidelined through injury, the treatment some of his players have been receiving on the pitch has been on Ten Hag's mind.
After United secured a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals by beating Nottingham Forest 1-0 on Wednesday evening, the Dutch manager accused the opposition players of 'targeting' his captain.
Ten Hag revealed that Fernandes has been playing through an injury in recent games, and described criticism of the 29-year-old in the media and on social media as "pathetic."
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On Thursday, ahead of United's trip to the Etihad Stadium to face Man City, Ten Hag elaborated on his "pathetic" claim, and demanded Fulham apologise to Fernandes after they took a swipe at him on TikTok.
The London club put a clip of the social media platform of the United captain appearing to writhe in pain following a challenge during Fulham's 2-1 win at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Fulham accompanied the clip - which shows Fernandes quickly getting to his feet after a few seconds rolling around - with the caption: "so glad he's ok".
Ten had told reporters: "It is absolutely not right that a club makes such statement because it is totally out of order and wrong and they should apologise for this.
The United boss went on to say: "I thought it was definitely on Saturday a foul and really misjudged from media, from social media, to blame him.
"That was my point yesterday [Wednesday] and opponents are targeting him and that is not right. There were fouls on him even after the ball was kicked away.
"Opponents are targeting him and especially after Saturday when he had the knock and they see it and the referee should protect him there. It was so obvious they were looking for him."
Fernandes was spotted limping after the Forest game, but Ten Hag expects him to be fit for the Manchester derby on Sunday.
Rasmus Hojlund and United's other injured stars are not expected to recover in time.
Topics: Manchester United, Erik Ten Hag, Bruno Fernandes, Fulham, Premier League, FA Cup, Nottingham Forest
Alex Brotherton