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Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes dazzled for Portugal as they cruised to a 3-1 win over Poland in the Nations League.
Fernandes provided the assistant for Portugal’s opener, as he headed the ball into the path of Bernardo Silva, who made no mistake as he guided it into the back of the net.
United legend Cristiano Ronaldo would go on to double the Selecao’s lead, tapping in the ball from close range.
A Jan Bednarek own goal in the dying embers of the match ensured that whatever hopes Poland harboured of a sensational late comeback were firmly crushed.
Fernandes formed part of a Portugal midfield trio also consisting of Manchester City’s Silva and Al Hilal star Ruben Neves.
Interestingly, Fernandes came up against former United teammate and Carrington academy graduate Maxi Oyedele, who recently received his first call-up to the Poland national team.
Oyedele – who left Old Trafford in the summer – was on the pitch for 66 minutes before he was taken off and replaced by Jakub Moder.
During the time Fernandes was in action, he registered 62 touches of the ball and successfully found his teammates with 38 of the 44 passes he attempted, managing an individual pass accuracy of 86%. Four of his passes were key passes.
The playmaker tried to connect with two crosses and as many long balls. He didn’t find his target with any of the efforts and this is undoubtedly a metric he will be keen to improve on.
The United skipper created one big chance. He was a threat inside the box and was unlucky not to get on the score sheet. Fernandes had four shots to his name. Two were on-target while two others didn’t require Lukasz Skorupski to swing into action.
Fernandes won five of the seven ground duels he contested and came out on top in the one aerial challenge he vied for. He put in one clearance, one interception and made four tackles.
The 29-year-old has endured a difficult start to the season at United and it’s great to see him being impactful once again. He recently took responsibility for his woes at club level as he vowed to do everything possible to return to good form. His performance against Poland was certainly a good way to start.
Another United star who lined up for Portugal was Diogo Dalot. The full-back made four clearances, two interceptions and one tackle.
Dalot won just one of the two ground duels he delved into.
He touched the ball on 77 occasions and successfully delivered 57 of the 62 passes he made. Two of these passes were key passes. The United defender also fired a shot that was on-target.
(Stats obtained from Sofascore)
Portugal’s next assignment will see them come up against Scotland on Tuesday at Hampden Park.
Featured image Rafal Oleksiewicz via Getty Images
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