Bruno Fernandes denied that Manchester United‘s remarkable comeback win against Roma saved Michael Carrick from the sack but admitted the manager was right to drop him for criticising his tactics last month.
The United captain scored their first goal with a twice-taken penalty as they came from 2-0 down to beat Roma 3-2 and record their first victory in 10 matches.
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But after their previous Champions League game, a 4-1 thrashing by Como, Fernandes had blamed Carrick for United’s lack of pressing in a post-match interview – and the United manager responded by leaving him as an unused substitute for their next match, a 3-0 loss to Bournemouth.
And Fernandes addressed the issue in another fiery post-match interview following the Roma comeback.
Speaking to Amazon Prime Video, he said: “The manager took a decision of making myself be on the bench because I wasn’t performing, and that’s fair.
“Everyone felt that was a punishment for the words that I had said. And if it was, it was right. The manager is the one that makes the decisions. I have to accept them. I have to go forward with that.
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“It doesn’t change the belief I have on the manager and on the staff and and every player that is in this club, and it doesn’t change my aim to win every f***ing game that I have ahead of me.”
Fernandes and Carrick subsequently held talks before the Portuguese was brought back into the team on Saturday against Chelsea.
And as he got increasingly passionate, Fernandes added: “It’s been tough. It’s been a lot of speculation in the media, a lot of lies around many things that have happened in this club between me and the manager, like that we had cleared the air then after when nothing of that happened.”
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Carrick has been under pressure as United have only taken seven points in the Premier League this season and had lost their three previous matches in all competitions.
But Fernandes said: “We don’t need to save anyone’s job. But it was important. The club needed that win, the players needed that win. It’s something that we needed as a group of players together with the staff.”
