‘We look like a proper team now’ – Fernandes boasts of Man Utd progress & addresses controversial equaliser vs Man City

Bruno Fernandes praised Manchester United’s progress and claimed there was nothing wrong with his controversial goal in Saturday’s derby win.

WHAT HAPPENED? The Red Devils were trailing to a Jack Grealish goal up until the 78th minute when Fernandes pulled one back before Marcus Rashford then netted the winner just four minutes later. However, the equalising goal potentially shouldn’t have stood as Rashford was clearly in an offside position, and according to Manchester City fans, interfering with play (although he didn’t touch the ball) before he let Fernandes run in and score.

WHAT THEY SAID: “I said it before the game, we look like a team now,” Fernandes said. “Some time ago you could see sometimes a team, sometimes we were looking a little bit for ourselves, but now you see a proper team that works hard for each other and you see that it pays.

“On the offside incident, I think that because I was facing the goal Marcus probably saw that I was in a better position. I don’t know if any of us was offside or not but it doesn’t have any influence because there was no one close to him, so it doesn’t make any influence on the team to defend, the only one close was one close to me. It’s a goal at the end and we are really happy for that.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Before the game, Fernandes had spoken about how the Red Devils were no longer afraid of playing Man City – even though they’d lost at home to their biggest rivals in the Premier League more than they have against any other opponent (8). Clearly, he wasn’t wrong, with Erik ten Hag’s men coming from behind to win the derby, even if it did require a bit of luck when it came to the big calls.

IN THREE PHOTOS:

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WHAT NEXT FOR MAN UNITED? After their huge win, Fernandes and Co. find themselves just one point behind City in the table and play league leaders Arsenal at the Emirates in their next game.

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