Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has admitted that the team’s focus is now on the Europa League, following Sunday’s FA Cup elimination at the hands of Fulham.
United lost on penalties, with Victor Lindelof and Joshua Zirkzee both missing from the spot.
Calvin Bassey had given the visitors the lead as he headed home from a corner, pouncing on chaos from United in defence.
The Red Devils drew level in the second half through Fernandes, who produced a superb finish to convert Diogo Dalot’s cross. United had chances to take the lead but the likes of Alejandro Garnacho and Chido Obi could not hit the target.
A penalty shootout was needed, and the Cottagers eventually prevailed to advance to the quarter-finals of the competition, where they will face Crystal Palace.
After the final whistle, Fernandes spoke to MUTV and gave his verdict on the result and explained what’s next for him and his teammates.
“I think we controlled the game. In one moment in the first half where we conceded the goal that we talked about during the week, that they do that at set-pieces. We should have been more aware of that but I think we controlled the game in the first half very well.”
“We had some chances in the second half, even more. In extra time, I think Fulham had a little bit more control in the game but we had the better chances to end up scoring but we didn’t and in the penalties, they were more efficient than us.”
On his goal, Fernandes remarked, “I helped the team to draw the game and to try to get back into the game, to win it but unfortunately it wasn’t enough today but we look forward to the rest of the season, with the main focus obviously on the next game, in a competition we want to go forward. It’s one of our goals for the season to try and get a trophy.”
The skipper was asked whether it was a fair assessment to state that the players were fighting together. He answered, “No, it is it is. It’s always been there but in some moments you get goals, others you don’t. Against Everton, it wasn’t enough to get the win. Against Ipswich it was.”
“Today it was enough to get us into extra time and penalties but as I said, they were more efficient than us. Unluckily for us, the dream to get into the finals at Wembley again is not there any more but we need to keep pushing for what’s left for the rest of the season.”
On the importance of recovering well before Thursday’s Europa League meeting with Real Sociedad, Fernandes noted, “Obviously we know we’ve had many injuries in this period. We don’t have many players and we know we’ve been playing almost with the same players for long spells and it’s been difficult.”
“So we just need to recover, focus ourselves to do the best we can to get fresh legs for the next game. It’s going to be a tough one…a Spanish team that plays brilliant football. Very good players up front and very quality coming out from the back, so we need to be fresh to run again because they’ll make us run and then when we have the ball, we have to make them run too.”
Sociedad vs. United kicks off at 17:45 at Anoeta Stadium in San Sebastián.
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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Derick Kinoti
Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
