João Palhinha has cruised to our latest Man of the Match award courtesy of his domineering performance against Manchester United.
Our Portuguese enforcer was absolutely everywhere, putting in an incredible nine tackles, which moves him to the top of the charts for tackles made across Europe’s top five leagues with 65.
His desire to win possession back for his team is something that naturally endears him to the Fulham Faithful, who celebrated every inch-perfect Palhinha slide.
Our defensive midfielder caused problems at the top end of the pitch, too, with David De Gea pulling off a brilliant save to keep out his overhead kick.
His performance won plaudits from across football media, with Sky Sports awarding him their Man of the Match trophy as well. Palhinha would have happily traded that for a positive result, though.
“If I could change the trophy for the result, of course I would change it,” he told FFCtv. “All the team did a really good game.
“We’re really disappointed, really frustrated. We didn’t deserve this final result, but this happens in football. Sometimes the best team doesn’t win.”
It was a completely emphatic win for Palhinha in the Man of the Match vote, with 84.6 per cent of fans voting for him.
His fellow midfielders were some way off in second and third, with Andreas Pereira and Tom Cairney taking 3.4% and 2.9%, respectively.
