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 3-1 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 also was embraced warmly by his Fulham teammates, including his fellow striker 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.
