Bruno Fernandes was in action as the Portugal national side picked apart Turkey at Euro 2024. But what did the Portuguese media think of the performance of the Manchester United star?
After a shakey performance in their opener against the Czech Republic, Bruno Fernandes and his national side needed a convincing display in the second matchday of Euro 2024.
However, this was to be no easy feat. They faced Turkey, a side that looked full of tenacity and energy in their opener against Georgia.
Alas, the Portuguese got the job done. They ran out 3-0 victors, with goals coming from Bernardo Silva, an unfortunate own goal and a Fernandes strike – gifted to him on a plate by former Manchester United teammate, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Diogo Dalot unfortunately did not feature, but Bruno played the full 90. Which begs the question, how did he get on?
Portuguese media react to Bruno Fernandes display vs Turkey
Bruno started in his favoured role, the number 10 – and certainly put in a better display than he did against the Czechoslovakians.
He barely put a foot wrong, and was his usually busy self, canning up and down the pitch. He also did a sensational job of keeping Turkey’s captain, Hakan Calhanoglu very quiet. Portuguese media immediately reacted to the Manchester United captain’s display.
Mais Futebol wrote: ‘Without giving it much away, the midfielder played a very important role in keeping an eye on Çalhanoglu. Martínez gave him the task of limiting the influential Inter Milan player and the Maiato did it perfectly. With the ball, Bruno Fernandes was the player he is: he accumulated shots, broke through the opposing defence on several occasions and took risks in passing. He scored his third goal for the Portuguese and finally scored his first goal in a major tournament.’
Zap wrote: ‘Nice game from the midfielder, especially in the second half. He scored again (the 3-0), was, with Ronaldo, the most shot, with four shots, made six progressive passes, two super progressive dribbles and won eight of 13 individual duels.’
Newspaper publication Observador had the following to say about Bruno: ‘Bernardo is not explosive, Ronaldo no longer has the speed he once did and Leão likes the ball at his feet – all this is a problem for Bruno, who likes to throw motorbikes, enjoys the game more broken, so he can put in breakaway passes and shoot from the edge of the area. He tried all that, but nothing came of it particularly well – until finally, in the 55th minute, he was unmarked at the right time to receive Ronaldo’s assist and score.’
Bruno Fernandes reacts to Portugal vs Turkey
Fernandes took to Instagram after the victory to express his delight in advancing. His message in Portuguese translated to: ‘Qualification secured. Amazing support from the stands once again.’
The 29-year-old also reflected in a post-match interview on his side’s result, and more importantly qualification for the knockout phase. He also had praise for the Manchester United legend, Ronaldo.
How does it feel to have scored?
“Obviously everyone likes to score, but it’s not more important, that showed in my goal, Cris [Cristiano Ronaldo] is a person who is our best scorer, and, in a moment of opportunity to score, he gives the ball wide. It shows what it means to us, to win games and not to score goals.”
Portugal secures first place in the group. Was that the goal?
“Our goal to come here is to win, the most important thing is to win every game. Against Georgia we also want to win, it’s always important for us to be mentally well.”
Do you think it was a tremendous game for the national team?
“In the first half, at the moment of definition, I made a mistake in some moments, in the second I improved a lot. I had a lot of man-to-man marking, from Turkey’s 22 [Kaan Ayhan], in the first half, I had moments when I could have opted for other solutions, in the second I had more spaces, looking at the result you can see a great game from the national team, but against the Czech Republic we controlled more, today was a very open game and on the counterattack, Turkey’s favourite.”
Was Portugal able to overcome the obstacles?
“We have players with quality and ability, our national team is more comfortable and better when they can have the ball than in transition, we have Cristiano and Leão with great speed, Bernardo and I serving and then Neto came in and did what he had to do.”