Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes has been hailed as the "perfect captain" by manager Ruben Amorim, following his hat-trick in their Europa League victory over Real Sociedad - with the Portuguese coach desperate for the rest of the squad to help him out. The Red Devils' domestic struggles this season have made European success crucial, and they kept their hopes alive with a 5-2 aggregate win, thanks to a 4-1 second-leg triumph at Old Trafford last night. Despite La Real's Mikel Oyarzabal opening the scoring, Fernandes remained composed, netting two penalties and a third goal after Jon Aramburu was sent off for the visitors. Diogo Dalot sealed the win, setting up a quarter-final clash against Lyon.
"When we need it, he's always there," Amorim said of Fernandes. "He can defend so it's a perfect captain for our team, and we need to help him to win titles, because he deserves a lot." The victory gives United a boost ahead of Sunday's Premier League match against Leicester and lifted spirits at Old Trafford. "You can feel the fans, the noise... it's hard to explain," Amorim added.
"You feel confidence from the supporters. It was a really good night and we have this competition and it gives us a lot of energy and confidence to go to our games in the Premier League. We feel you can go to the next stage and we believe that we can go to another stage.
"This week was a different week.. We dealt with a lot of problems of the present, we show the future. It's not finished because we have a game on Sunday, but this game today was really good for everybody in the club – the staff, the players, and especially the fans."
The Red Devils will tackle their next game without several key players due to injuries and Patrick Dorgu, who is seeing out a three-match domestic suspension.
In a commendable display of fair play against Sociedad, winter signing Dorgu won a penalty and had an opponent sent off - only to persuade the referee that it was not a foul, leading to the reversal of the decision.
When quizzed about Dorgu's honesty, Amorim responded cheekily: "It depends. It's the right thing to do, so I'm quite proud of him... but it depends.
"I cannot say if it's 0-0 or we're losing I have the same response, so he did well, he did a great performance. He was improving during the game.
"He's learning a lot in that position. He has the physicality, he's clearly able to play in our league, so it was a good game, and a good action from Dorgu."