Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes risks losing record-breaking one-off against Man City due to 'serious injury'
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes could miss the first game of his club career through injury this weekend.
The 29-year-old has enjoyed an incredible run that is the envy of any other professional footballer, having never been out of a club match with anything other than illness in 12 years.
Fernandes has played for five teams throughout his career, including the Italian teams Novara, Udineseand Sampdoria before returning to his homeland Portugal with Sporting Lisbon.
He then joined United from Sporting in January 2020, making an immediate impact by winning the Premier League Player of the Month award four times in the same year.
A record that Fernandes shares with each of his clubs is that he has never missed a single game due to injury in over 500 appearances.
The Portuguese star has missed two matches since turning professional, both due to illness.
He missed a match for Sampdoria in the 2016/17 season due to flu, while he was absent from the 3-2 win over Tottenham in 2022.
His injury-free record is even more remarkable considering that no player in Europe's elite played more than him last year.
Fernandes is the only one of the five major leagues to have played more than 70 games in 2023, in more than 6,000 minutes of action.
But the midfielder's career is in more danger than ever now that the United boss Erik ten Hag admitting that his employer suffers a “serious injury.”
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Fernandes it was a doubt for the FA Cup fifth round tie in Nottingham Forest in midweek after taking a knock in the 2-1 loss to Fulham Last weekend.
However, as usual, Fernandes recovered to start the match and He even provided the assist to win the match. in a 1-0 victory.
Praising the Portugal international, Ten Hag accused Forest players of attacking the former Sporting star on Wednesday night.
He said: “I'm not saying what it is, but it was a serious injury. I see social media criticizing it. It's pathetic.”
“He has a serious injury, he continued playing on Saturday and then also fought to be part of this game.
“He has a very high pain threshold. Last year he did something similar against the Spurs and I think in the semi-final.
“It shows his leadership. You saw that Forest was targeting him.
“There were a lot of fouls on him. You see that when he receives the ball, they are very tight with him.”
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Fernandes was caught on camera limping away from The City Ground, but Ten Hag revealed he hopes his ever-present captain will be available once again for the trip to the Etihad.
If so, that would be his 150th Premier League appearance and Fernandes' wealth of football is clearly taking its toll.
Although the Portuguese has created more chances than any other player in the competition this season (74), his goal or assist rate per 281 minutes this season is the lowest in any of his five campaigns.
But Simon Jordan has argued that two-time Player of the Year winner Sir Matt Busby is exaggerating his problems.
Jordan told talkSPORT: “Do you have a high pain threshold? I wish you had a high nonsense threshold. “If you had a serious injury you wouldn't play, right?
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“He had a blow. It's not just Fernandes. There are many players. This argument that ravages players who are characterized in a certain way… is of his own creation.
“These accusations of cheating, spinning, hitting and wasting time are by-products of modern football.
“When you earn that nickname, that's what you get. No matter how talented Fernandes is, Man United fans at the moment don't accept it.
“They don't think he's a leader, they think histrionics are unacceptable. He's not the only one who does it, but he's the captain of Man United and they concentrate more.
“He doesn't smear it with a different brush. If you go around and do a four-act play of something, then get up and engage in an attack, then you weren't hurt enough in the first place.”
