Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has delivered a brutally honest response to club legend Roy Keane.
Keane recently launched strong criticism of Fernandes by suggesting the Portuguese star was prioritising personal assist records ahead of the interests of the team.
The former United captain even claimed Fernandes publicly admitted after the dramatic 3-2 victory over Nottingham Forest that he chose to pass in situations where he should have scored himself.
However, those claims were completely false because Fernandes had actually said the exact opposite in his interview.
The Portuguese magnifico has now directly challenged Keane and effectively accused him of lying about his comments.
He said in The Diary of a CEO podcast: “Like I’ve always said, I don’t mind criticism. I’ve always taken criticism from everyone and anyone and I never reply to anything or whatsoever.
“I accept that he might like me as a player or not, like me as a person or not. But what I don’t like is that he puts words in my mouth that have not been said. That’s the only thing I don’t like.
“I even asked Ole his number to text him to be honest, to have a word with him to say that I don’t mind the criticism [but] I don’t like when people lie about things that I say.
“Because this is like, it goes a little bit over the top of the things that I think are acceptable.”
Where is the apology, Roy Keane?
This latest embarrassment has arguably been building towards Keane for quite some time now.
The former midfielder has repeatedly delivered harsh criticism of the Red Devils over recent years, but many of his remarks in the last 12 months have crossed the line.
Keane previously claimed Liam Delap deserved more patience at Chelsea before quickly turning around and criticising Benjamin Sesko despite the striker producing a brilliant goal.
Ironically, Sesko is actually younger than Delap, making the criticism appear even more illogical.
Keane also aimed personal remarks at Michael Carrick shortly after the former midfielder was appointed United manager in January.
Keane rarely offers genuine tactical analysis or constructive criticism during his television appearances.
Instead, his comments are overly aggressive and more focused on controversy than meaningful football discussion.
It all came back to haunt him when he recently lied on a podcast about post-match comments made by Fernandes.
Keane now owes apologies not only to Fernandes, but also to Sesko, Carrick and frustrated fans of the club.
There is no doubt Keane will always remain one of the greatest players in Man United history. However, he must do some introspection before picking up a microphone again.
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