Bruno Fernandes has made a telling impact on Manchester United since he joined from Sporting in January and his linkup play with Paul Pogba in the midfield on Tuesday had them firing on all cylinders against Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Portugal playmaker’s crisp one-touch passing and eye for the goal seem to have transformed United’s engine room, where Pogba had often flattered to deceive.
In Fernandes, it seems that the France international and 2018 World Cup winner has finally found a midfield partner who can bring the best out of him.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Fernandes, who took his overall tally to six goals in 13 games with a brace against Brighton, believes that United can squeeze into the Premier League’s top four and was quick to credit his teammates for flourishing under manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
“We are fighting for a place in the [UEFA] Champions League and we know we can achieve this,” Fernandes told Sky Sports. “I don’t want to talk too much about me and Paul Pogba. We are happy to play together, but I am happy to play with everyone. We can combine together, we have qualities, but we know that we have teammates who can do well. We knew that we needed to push forward and to try and score from minute one. I was lucky with the first goal and the second goal was amazing, an amazing pass from Mason [Greenwood].”
With Pogba bossing the center of the midfield, 18-year-old Greenwood impressed again with a mature performance, having opened the scoring with a solo effort before he fed Fernandez with a delightful cross for United’s third goal.
Solskjaer also singled out Greenwood, who appears to be cementing a place in the starting lineup alongside Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial up front.
“He’s got a knack of that. He can go inside or outside. He is developing into a fine player,” Solskjaer told Sky Sports. “We know we have pace and we want to counter quickly. It was a fantastic [third] goal. We are very happy with it.”
LEICESTER CITY
Leicester City are still planning to stage their remaining Premier League home games this season despite the city’s localized COVID-19 lockdown following a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.
Leicester are due to host Crystal Palace on Saturday and have more home matches against Sheffield United and Manchester United before the end of the season.
“All parties remain entirely satisfied that, through the continued implementation of our COVID operations plan, the club’s football operations can continue to safely function under existing protocols and, in doing so, there will be no greater risk posed to club personnel, visiting teams or our surrounding communities,” a club spokesman said.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said there is a risk of the season not being completed if there are multiple lockdowns across the country.
“It is all dependent on the course of the virus,” Masters told British lawmakers at a meeting of the British House of Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee.
Additional reporting by AFP
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