Portugal star Bruno Fernandes highlighted one “individual talent” who showed exactly what Ruben Amorim would demand from his Manchester United players in his tactical system.
Bruno Fernandes took part in Manchester United’s post-season tour of Asia in May before he linked up with his Portugal teammates for international duty this summer.
Portugal had reached the semi-finals of the Nations League and Roberto Martinez’s men punched their ticket to the final after a 2-1 win over Germany last Wednesday.
Following the encounter with Germany at the Allianz Arena, Portugal met Euro 2024 champions Spain in the 2025 final of the Nations League competition on Sunday.
Spain had secured their place in the final after Luis de la Fuente’s men produced a sensational 5-4 win over France at the MHP Arena in Stuttgart last Thursday.
Portugal came out on top last weekend and the Euro 2016 champions clinched the Nations League trophy for the second time after beating Spain on penalties.
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Photo by Sebastian Widmann - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Photo by Sebastian Widmann – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
Why Man Utd star Bruno Fernandes singled out Portugal ace Nuno Mendes after the Nations League final win vs Spain
Martin Zubimendi inflicted the first blow in the Nations League final at the Allianz Arena after he broke the deadlock for Spain against Portugal on Sunday evening.
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However, Portugal rallied back and Nuno Mendes cancelled out Martin Zubimendi’s opener only five minutes later after finding the equaliser for his side.
Luis de la Fuente’s side restored their advantage over Portugal ahead of half-time after Mikel Oyarzabal put Spain 2-1 up in the Nations League final.
However, Cristiano Ronaldo netted the all-important equaliser in the second half and the match was forced to extra time after the 2-2 scoreline after 90 minutes played.
Speaking after the match, Bruno Fernandes singled out Paris Saint-Germain star Nuno Mendes for his influence as the left-sided full-back for Portugal in the final.
“We had individual talent on our side, such as Nuno [Mendes], our left-sided player, who ended up running over everyone and ended up giving us two moments of great joy, with his runs,” he said, as per The Daily Mirror.
“Individual talent is what makes you win the game, like Diogo Costa’s save and Ruben Neves’ penalty. We don’t need to be favourites.
“That’s up to the person who says it, there will always be those who say that some are favourites, others will say that others are.”
“That doesn’t matter to us. We, the Portuguese, go out there to win, whatever it is, whoever is ahead of us. We want to win every game. Sometimes it’s possible, sometimes it’s not.”
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Man Utd ace Bruno Fernandes reacted to Portugal lifting the Nations League trophy after their penalty shootout victory against Spain
Roberto Martinez’s side clinched the Nations League trophy after Portugal converted all five of their spot-kicks against Spain, with Fernandes also netting from a penalty.
Spain scored from their opening three penalty kicks before Alvaro Morata stepped up and failed to convert past Portugal shot-stopper Diogo Costa from the spot-kick.
“I’m going to celebrate with my teammates and my family,” Fernandes said.
“It’s a special moment for everyone. Winning for Portugal is different. It’s for our family, for our people, for the country, for our people.
“Once again, the wave of red that I saw so much on social media was there and made us feel like we were playing at home.
“Thank you very much for all the support, it was excellent. We felt it, from start to finish, from the moment we got to the end.
“Everything we did during the game helped us win. We knew we were going up against a great team, and at the same time, we knew we were a team of the same level.
“We knew Spain’s qualities, we were very aggressive when losing the ball, which was very important.”
Fernandes is now expected to link up with his United teammates for the start of the pre-season campaign in July under Red Devils boss Ruben Amorim.