Aleksandar Mitrovic will be lucky if he plays again this season.

The hot-headed Serb went from Fulham FA Cup hero to unedifying zero in a moment of Old Trafford madness that sent his side’s pursuit of a trip to Wembley spiralling dramatically out of control.

Mitrovic’s push on referee Chris Kavanagh, sparked by the fundamentally correct dismissal of teammate Willian for blatantly handling the ball on the line and subsequent sending off of manager Marco Silva for his protests, capped a remarkable third red card in the space of 40 frantic seconds that turned this fiery quarter-final clash chaotically on its head.

With Manchester United going on to win the game after Mitrovic’s second-half opener, attention has justifiably started to pivot towards what happens next for the volatile striker and the length of the ban he will receive for his astonishingly ill-judged actions.

For me, it was not so much the actual push on Kavanagh - an obvious red card offence in itself - that made the incident so alarming as it was the sustained intimidation of the referee after being sent off, continuing to harass him just centimetres from his face before having to be dragged away by United goalkeeper David de Gea.

If that was a Norwich City player, I would be equally appalled and, with just 11 games left in Fulham’s high-flying season, I believe banning Mitrovic for the remainder of the campaign would be the totally right thing to do.

Unlike Bruno Fernandes’ much-publicised push on linesman Adam Nunn during United’s 7-0 thumping at Anfield earlier this month – which, by the way, also warranted a red card but has no bearing whatsoever on whether or not Mitrovic should have been sent off too - what happened at Old Trafford was not just an isolated shove and was firmly exacerbated by the Fulham striker's sustained hounding of Kavanagh.

And with the eyeballs of the next generation, alongside thousands of Sunday league, amateur and semi-professional players watching on, that is why an example needs to be set and an 11-game ban for Mitrovic would be in no way too harsh a punishment.

The Pink Un: Marco Silva was sent off during Fulham's defeat to Manchester UnitedMarco Silva was sent off during Fulham's defeat to Manchester United (Image: PA)

Fortunately, I have never seen a City player embark on such an ugly outburst in my lifetime and, despite several stupid red cards, have never had to endure the spectacle of seeing anyone in yellow in green physically confront a match official.

Granted, the club was fined £10,000 for failing to control its players after being denied an obvious-looking penalty in the 3-0 home humbling against Burnley – an issue that needs to be clamped down on more broadly, particularly among some of the bigger Premier League sides – but that bore no resemblance whatsoever to Mitrovic's moment of mayhem.

You've genuinely got to feel for Fulham fans.

Like our own fanbase, I'd like to think both sets of supporters hold a relatively positive reputation among the national football community, which is one of the reasons Mitrovic's - and Silva's - actions felt so at odds with the club's broader ethos.

Instead of what should have been a polished Old Trafford performance resulting in a memorable FA Cup semi-final, the Cottagers were instead catapulted into the media spotlight, denied a trip to Wembley and now face the genuine threat of being without their talismanic striker as they target a remarkable return to European football.

Mitrovic’s actions were not ‘passion’, not merely a mistake in the ‘heat of the moment’ and certainly not legitimated by the fact a fellow professional escaped punishment from a similarly shocking error of judgement on Merseyside two weeks earlier.

His antics marked the grim, conspicuous culmination of years of intensifying abuse towards officials that sadly, is beginning to manifest itself increasingly visibly throughout the grassroots game.

All clubs, particularly those in the upper echelons of the pyramid but across the football league more generally, have a duty to set an example and ensure their players conduct themselves in the right, respectful and positive manner.

So while we all want the best for City and can naturally get frustrated when decisions don’t go our way, I hope we never see one of our players resort to the sort of thuggish, vulgar and – quite frankly – deeply concerning behaviour that Mitrovic disgraced both himself, and the professional game, with so badly with last weekend.