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4 hours ago
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Raúl Jiménez was reduced to tears after scoring his first goal since the death of his father last week. After converting a penalty to seal Fulham’s win over Burnley, Jiménez dropped to his knees and pointed to the sky with both hands.
He welled up as he walked back to the centre circle and was seen wiping tears from his eyes after the match. Jiménez was embraced warmly by his Fulham teammates, including Rodrigo Muniz and their coach, Marco Silva.
The death of his father, Raúl Jiménez Vega, was announced by Mexico’s football federation on 13 March.
It was a poignant note to end a match in which Harry Wilson grabbed his 10th goal of the season as Fulham sent their former manager Scott Parker closer to the drop with a comfortable win. Wilson fired Fulham into the lead after Josh King had finally scored his first Premier League goal to cancel out Zian Flemming’s opener for Burnley.
Josh Laurent was sent off for the foul on Jiménez that led to the penalty. The red card was another blow for Parker, who managed Fulham to promotion in 2020 and relegation a year later and now looks odds on to repeat the trick with Burnley. They are nine points adrift of the last safe spot – a gap that could widen after Sunday’s matches – with only seven games to play.
It was a big moment for the 19-year-old King, who was desperate to break his duck after having a goal wrongly ruled out by the video assistant referee against Chelsea in August.
The goals all came in the second half after an entirely forgettable first 45 minutes, during which Burnley felt they should have had a penalty when Flemming’s shot was blocked by the arm of Calvin Bassey. After a VAR check, Bassey escaped punishment because his arm was supporting him as he slid in.
Muniz sent a volley over and Wilson fizzed one drive just too high and another too close to Martin Dubravka. The best chance fell to Flemming, who got between Bassey and Antonee Robinson to meet Quilindschy Hartman’s cross, only to plant a diving header straight at the Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
A first half desperately low on quality was summed up when Jaidon Anthony’s attempt at a long throw into the Fulham box flew straight out for a goal-kick.
After the break Dubravka made a fine reaction save after Oscar Bobb had prodded King’s header goalwards. Moments later Dubravka denied King as he burst through on goal, with Muniz curling the rebound wide.
But it was Burnley who made the breakthrough on the hour mark when Anthony played the ball out to Lyle Foster. The South African’s first-time cross caught out the Fulham backline and Flemming swept the ball home from 10 yards for his ninth goal of the season.
However, the lead lasted just seven minutes before King found the net in slightly bizarre circumstances. Both he and Dubravka missed Sander Berge’s cross towards the far post, but as he spun around King found himself with a simple tap-in.
Parker felt Burnley were architects of their own downfall. “Probably the defining moment is a slight mistake on our behalf and they score” he said. “A rare mistake that is unlike Martin. We didn’t manage to weather that and they scored again quickly.”
Six minutes later Wilson – comfortably the game’s best player – cut inside and drilled a low shot with his left foot inside the near post. Jiménez’s emotional moment rounded off the action.
