Bruno Fernandes says Man Utd didn’t beat AS Roma to save Michael Carrick from the sack after completing a stunning comeback on Tuesday night.
The Red Devils went two goals down inside the opening 20 minutes of the UEFA Champions League clash at Old Trafford following Matias Soulé’s opener and Donyell Malen’s penalty.
United were awarded a penalty of their own in the second half, but Fernandes saw his effort saved by Devis Vasquez. The captain, however, was offered the chance for redemption after the visitors were penalised for encroachment. The Portuguese playmaker made no mistake with his second attempt.
That was the spark United needed as Matheus Cunha scored twice in the space of three minutes, the first of which was assisted by Fernandes, to turn the game on its head. The Brazilian earned a booking for whipping his shirt off and diving into the crowd, and went on to get himself sent off for a poor tackle in stoppage time.
Nonetheless, Man Utd held on for a memorable 3-2 victory that will provide immense relief to Carrick, who had not overseen a win since the second week of September.
Bruno Fernandes: We don’t need to save anyone’s job at Man Utd
Asked by Amazon Prime Video if the team needed to win the game to save the manager’s job, he answered: “No, we don’t need to save anyone’s job.
“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.
“We’ve been working so hard to get out of this situation altogether. It’s been tough, there’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, that we had cleared the air, then after, nothing of that happened.
“The manager took a decision of putting myself on the bench because I wasn’t performing at that level. Everyone felt that that was a punishment for the words that I had. 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. It doesn’t change the belief I have in the manager, in the staff and every player that is in this club.
“It doesn’t change my aim to win every game that I have ahead of me.
“It should be [a turning point].”
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