Bruno Fernandes honours promise to Marcus Rashford in giving up penalty as he spurns chance of first United hat-trick
Bruno Fernandes said he was honouring a promise to Marcus Rashford to take the next penalty after passing up an opportunity to claim his first Manchester United hat-trick.
Fernandes had given United a 2-0 lead over Istanbul Basaksehir with his eighth and ninth goals of the season and seemed on the verge of claiming his third of the night when he stepped up to take a penalty in the 35th minute.
But, despite hovering over the penalty spot with the ball in his hands, the Portugal midfielder suddenly elected to throw the ball to Rashford and stand aside to let the England striker take the spot-kick, which he duly dispatched to put United 3-0 in front and chalk up his fifth European goal of the campaign.
And Fernandes later revealed that he had promised Rashford he would let him take the next penalty after his spot-kick success in Saturday’s 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.
“Every player wants to score a hat-trick but after the last Premier League game I told Rashy the next one you will take, and so I remembered that,” Fernandes said.
“And I remembered that Rashy is one of the top scorers in the Champions League so I think it will be important for him to keep going there and to take that confidence.
“It doesn’t matter who takes the penalties. The most important thing is scoring. The team scores so when the team scores, I score, too.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said he had no problem with Fernandes’ decision. “Marcus is a very good penalty taker, Bruno is very confident so if he wants to give it to Marcus then so be it,” the United manager said. “Anthony [Martial] had one against Leipzig so why not share them around?”
Since making his United debut in February, Fernandes has been directly involved in 34 goals in 35 appearances for the club, with 21 goals and 13 assists - 16 more than any other player at the club over the same period. No United midfielder in history has got to 20 goals quicker than Fernandes, to which he said: “Penalties help, everyone will say that.”
Fernandes’ first goal was a rocket from the edge of the penalty area and Solskjaer stressed that there was far more to the Portuguese’s game than just penalties.
“Not really, no,” the United manager said when asked if Fernandes’ impact had surprised him. “Of course we see him every day in training, we knew what we were going to get when we brought Bruno into the team. He's a player who likes to take risks, wants the team to win and do well and it shows today he can do more than just take penalties.”
A point against Paris Saint-Germain next Wednesday will secure United’s passage to the Round of 16. “We need one more point to go through but we want to be top of the group,” Solskjaer said. “
Defenders Victor Lindelof and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were substituted with back and ankle injuries that Solskjaer hopes will not keep them out of Sunday’s trip to Southampton.
“Hopefully they will be ready for the weekend but we are not sure,” he said. “Back problems for Victor, and Aaron had an ankle problem so there was no point taking any chances and risking more swelling to it.”
