Manchester United star Bruno Fernandes has often found himself defending his teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.
Last week, Portuguese football fans grew increasingly frustrated during their country’s narrow victory over Slovenia in the Euro 2024 round-of-16. This stemmed from Ronaldo’s unfruitful free-kicks – four attempts from dangerous positions that all failed to find the back of the net.
Ronaldo then missed a penalty in extra-time, which resulted the match going to a penalty shootout. Ronaldo’s insistence of taking all the set pieces only added to many supporters feeling that the pair, who have played together at United as well as at international level, do not see eye-to-eye.
The seeds of this rumour were planted when Fernandes seemingly snubbed Ronaldo in Portugal’s changing room, following his comments about United in a controversial Piers Morgan interview. Originally shared without audio, the clip seemed to suggest a frosty confrontation between the two.
However, Fernandes quickly countered this portrayal, responding to a Sky Sports journalist’s interpretation: “They put the sound on after, did you hear it with the sound? You have to hear it.
“In Portugal, we have a problem that I was watching on one of the channels that was talking about that. [They were saying] ‘it was cold, it was bad’ for about 45 minutes. All of a sudden, they go for a break and the national team put it up with the sound and the sound says that he’s joking with me.
“They came back and said there was a joke, and they cut there. They said ‘If you want to see again, just go back’, but if they go back, they will see that was a problem. But if they tell the truth, if they explain what was in that video, people will know, but now people don’t know.
“As I said, this is national team, Manchester United will be my focus after the Euros. I have no problem with anyone. One time a manager said to me ‘all that you can control is yourself’. I think everyone thinks the same way.”
During Portugal’s 3-0 victory over Turkey, Ronaldo and Fernandes seemed to have developed a friendly understanding. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner was played through on goal, but instead of shooting, he passed the ball across to Fernandes for an easy tap-in.
However, Fernandes, along with all of the Portugal players, would’ve been extremely frustrated by Ronaldo’s insistence on taking every free-kick within range of the goal. Ronaldo did not come close to scoring from any of his dead ball situations, which were more often than not more than 30 yards away from goal.
Ronaldo has yet to score a single goal throughout the entire competition and hasn’t found the net for the national side since he scored two goals in a friendly against Ireland, last month. Ronaldo will almost certainly start in Portugal’s quarter-final clash against France, though.
Gary Lineker has weighed in on the debate over who should take set pieces for Portugal, suggesting that Fernandes might be a better option than Ronaldo.
“Bruno Fernandes is a better free-kick taker and a more varied free-kick taker than Ronaldo. So while he’s [Ronaldo] a massive strength, he can also be a weakness as well.”
