Tom Cairney breaks silence after horror red card tackle and issues Tottenham verdict

Fulham midfielder Tom Cairney has spoken out for the first time since he scored before being sent off for a horror tackle during their 1-1 draw with Tottenham. The 33-year-old had an eventful 20-minute cameo at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Marco Silva's side rescued a point on Sunday afternoon.

Cairney was introduced off the bench in the 62nd minute with Fulham 1-0 down following Brennan Johnson's opener for Spurs. And just five minutes later, the Scotsman levelled for the visitors, superbly curling home from the edge of the area after Alex Iwobi's cutback.

However, Cairney soon turned from hero to villain with a moment of madness eight minutes from time. The former Hull and Blackburn man was initially given a yellow card by referee Darren Bond for a challenge on Dejan Kulusevski. But he was then told to go over the pitch-side VAR monitor where replays showed Cairney's studs-up challenge into the back of Kulusevski's calf.

The Premier League Match Centre's X account posted: "The referee's call of yellow card for the challenge by Cairney on Kulusevski is checked by VAR, who recommended an on-field review for serious foul play. The referee then issued a red card to Cairney."

Now, Cairney has taken to social media to apologise for his red card, although he did admit that he didn't attempt to hurt Kulusevski, who looked in a lot of pain following the incident.

"If I didn’t get sent off we could of got even more from the game so I take responsibility for that, I didn’t try and hurt the player in any way but I can understand how bad pictures can look when you slow them down with VAR but the boys dug in and got a well earned point," Cairney said on X.

Meanwhile, Fulham boss Silva has since delivered his verdict on Cairney's tackle and admitted he isn't the "type of player" to do that type of thing. "Firstly, I know him," Silva said.

"Tom Cairney is not the player for that, everybody knows. I have to be realistic and honest with you, everybody knows I am the first one asking him to be more aggressive in the right way, to keep some principles as a midfielder in that situation, but he is not the type of player to do that type of thing.

"He stamped on his leg and, of course, looking through the images it should be a red card and we have to accept it, knowing that Tom Cairney was really unlucky because he is not that type of player."

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