Fernandes came on as a second-half substitute in the shock defeat against Leicester in the FA Cup quarterfinals.
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Manchester United’s prospects of ending the season with silverware were dealt with a huge blow after getting knocked out of the FA Cup. A 3-1 defeat to Leicester City saw the Old Trafford outfit crash out of the competition in the quarterfinal stage. There were many changes made to the side that edged past AC Milan a few days earlier at the San Siro in the second leg of the Europa League round-of-16 tie. Bruno Fernandes was one of the major names who were benched on Sunday.
There were five changes made to the side that started the Europa League win on Thursday with Donny van de Beek and Paul Pogba being included in the starting line-up of the quarter-final defeat. Even though Fernandes came as a second half substitute, he was not able to prevent the team from getting knocked out of the FA Cup. After the match, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer explained why he felt Fernandes needed a break from starting the crucial cup tie.
“Every team selection has reasons behind it. Bruno has played very, very much football. He broke all his records on Thursday night [at the San Siro] physically statistically, and the boy is not inhuman,” started Ole, before adding, “He’s also a human being, he’s played a game every three or four days really. It was a chance to start to both Donny [van de Beek] and Paul [Pogba]. The accumulation of games maybe caught up with us.”
Ever since signing from Sporting Lisbon last year, Bruno has been a driving force for the Reds, scoring and assisting goals regularly. He has been a vital part of United’s recent success, yet Solskjaer felt it was not possible to play him in every game. “I know Bruno wants to play but sometimes you make decisions for the benefit of both the team and him,” the manager added.
