Como 1907 v Manchester United - UEFA Champions League 2026/27 League Phase MD3 - Source: Getty
Como 1907 v Manchester United - UEFA Champions League 2026/27 League Phase MD3 - Source: Getty
Bruno Fernandes has said Manchester United must stop measuring themselves against their past, after the 4-1 Champions League defeat at Como stretched the club’s winless run to seven matches.
The captain told Sky Sport Italia that the club and its players needed to accept they are no longer the side that dominated English football. He said (via Metro Sport):
“Everyone at the club must understand that it’s not the same thing any more,” Fernandes said. “We’re not in the past, and we need to look at the future. We need to do things different in the present. I think at this club, we focus too much on looking at what the club was in the past, what the club did in the past, but we are no longer the same.”
Players arriving at Old Trafford expect to compete for the biggest prizes, and the reality, according to Fernandes, has been different.
“Unfortunately for us, as a group of players, every time you come to this club you think about winning trophies and winning games, and being in the highest level but unfortunately it’s been very difficult at this club in the last few years,” he said. “That’s the situation.”
Manchester United are 13th in the Premier League with seven points from seven games, a start reported as their worst in the top flight for 40 years. They are 20th in the 36-team Champions League league phase with three points from three matches, having beaten Sabah 4-0 before losing to Atletico Madrid and Como, and are already out of the Carabao Cup.
Manchester United’s recent Premier League and Champions League record
The wider record supports Bruno Fernandes' point. Manchester United have not won the Premier League since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, and their only major trophies since are the League Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024. They lost the 2025 Europa League final to Tottenham. Last season’s third-place finish under Carrick, who replaced Ruben Amorim in January, secured the return to Europe’s top competition that has since gone badly wrong.
Carrick, in a later interview with Sky Sport Italia, rejected Fernandes' claim. He said:
“I disagree with him, but right now we are a long way from that level. When we arrived in January we scored more points than everyone else until the end of the championship, so this team showed that it could get good results over a long period of time. But we have to do much better after this start to the season.”
He apologised to the travelling fans and called the performance unacceptable. Fernandes had earlier questioned the team’s pressing, drawing criticism from Jamie Carragher, who said on CBS Sports that the captain’s comments were “disgraceful”. Manchester United host Bournemouth on Sunday, with reports saying the hierarchy is assessing possible replacements.