Bruno Fernandes craving trophies at Manchester United
Bruno Fernandes wants to win trophies at Manchester United (Carl Recine/PA)
Bruno Fernandes relishes the responsibility of helping to bring silverware back to Manchester United as the Portuguese playmaker prepares for his first encounter with rivals Liverpool.
Few January acquisitions have made a bigger immediate impact in English football than the 26-year-old, who has flourished since joining United from Sporting Lisbon last year for an initial 55 million euros (ÂŁ46.6million).
Fernandes has scored 19 goals and provided 14 assists in the Premier League alone, with his outstanding displays leading the midfielder to win a record four Player of the Month awards in a calendar year.
That is already as many as Cristiano Ronaldo managed during his entire Old Trafford stay, but Fernandes wants the kind of team glory enjoyed by his Portugal team-mate.
After collecting his latest #PL Player of the Month award, @B_Fernandes8 recorded this message for you guys đ#MUFC pic.twitter.com/q5ArvP1lNI
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 15, 2021
âAs Iâve always said, for me the most important thing is winning trophies â team trophies â because weâre a football team and itâs not just Bruno,â he said.
âI want to win trophies with the team. Of course Iâm very happy to win this award (for Decemberâs Player of the Month).
âThese kind of awards make you happy and confident and to work even more, and to get more and more from yourself.
âBut, as everyone knows, I will be completely happy when I win a trophy with the club.â
Fernandesâ superb impact saw him named Unitedâs 2019/20 Player of the Year, despite only having arrived midway through the campaign.
His skill and force of personality has helped raise performances at United, where he believes he is merely fitting in with standards rather than setting them.
âI think Iâve come to a club that is very demanding,â Fernandes said. âIt was not about me.
âI have always been very demanding of myself but I came to a club that was very demanding.
âYou play for one of the biggest clubs in the world, a club that has won everything, every trophy. I donât think it was me changing the mindset of the club.
âIf I changed the mindset of some players or my mindset helped some players to be better â maybe.
How is your team getting on? pic.twitter.com/PeQxBGUlLk
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 15, 2021
âBut I donât think it was me changing anything for the club because playing for Manchester United means playing with the pressure, playing with the responsibility.
âYou have to know you play for one of the biggest clubs in the world. So for me my mindset has always been like that. I want to be better. I want to play better. I want to grow up.
âI think you can always learn every day, it doesnât matter how good you are. You can always learn something.â
But Fernandes says he has not had to learn anything about the rivalry between United and Liverpool, whose Premier League triumph last year took them within a title of the Red Devilsâ record haul of 20.
United finished third and an eye-watering 33 points behind the winners last term, yet now head to Anfield top of the standings and boasting a three-point cushion over Jurgen Kloppâs men.
âI think, as everyone knows, when you come to a club like Manchester United, you come to win trophies,â Fernandes said ahead of Sundayâs eagerly-anticipated match.
âIt doesnât matter now that weâre out of the Carabao Cup and Champions League, and going into the Europa League, the main thing for me is that every trophy I have in front of me I want to win.
âSo at this moment we have three trophies we can win â the Europa League, FA Cup and Premier League â and we will go for all of them.
âBut for us itâs about winning game by game because being first in January or beating Liverpool in January and going six points ahead doesnât mean you will be champions.
âYou have to have the mentality to keep going and doing well and to keep doing well you need to win the next game and the next one and the next one.â
I think, as everyone knows, when you come to a club like Manchester United, you come to win trophies
Bruno Fernandes
United have the chance to go six points clear of Sundayâs opponents with a victory that manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes would be an âupsetâ.
Fernandes says defeat would not âmake Liverpool worse than beforeâ and appears unruffled by the match coming up, so too talk by the likes of Klopp about the number of penalties they have been getting.
âI donât hear (them)]! I donât care, honestly,â Fernandes added. âYou always see what people say but I really donât care. Iâm not focused on what they are saying.
âI played in Portugal and when you play for Sporting, Benfica and Porto are always talking about that kind of stuff â sometimes to put pressure on the referee, sometimes just to make some noise in the press.
âBut, for me, the main point is when we have a penalty, if I go to take the ball to the penalty spot, I have to do my job.â
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