It’s been a year since Bruno Fernandes arrived at Manchester United from Sporting and he has been a catalyst in the Red Devils’ upturn in form.
Since the start of February 2020, the attacking midfielder has been directly involved in 38 league goals [21 goals and 17 assists].
The Portugal international was able to showcase his qualities to fans at Old Trafford in the first month of his United career.
Norwegian TV channel TV2 interviewed the 26-year-old and when reviewing his first full year with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, he made an admission about fans.
“It’s been a very good year. Of course, it has been difficult for both me and the whole club not to have the fans in the stands,” he said.
“I came to the Premier League to love the atmosphere that is in the stadiums on match day. I miss it a little bit, but all in all, my first year has been very good both on and off the pitch.
“I have found myself very well settled in the club, the city and the country, and I am very happy to be here.”
The interview was conducted on Zoom and during the course of the discussion, he ‘orders the man who cuts the grass outside of the [media] room to find another place to mow for the next few minutes’.
“I demand an incredible amount from myself and I demand a lot from the people who are in my life,” the Portuguese star explained.
“Demanding for me is not about being afraid of someone or that someone is bigger than others. When I demand something from someone it’s because I think they can do it.
“I’m demanding because I think you’re capable of doing what I’m asking. It’s not about me or what I want, but rather that person to get better for himself and the team.”
Fernandes has experienced disappointments with United, especially at the end of last season where he lost two semi-finals against Chelsea and Sevilla in the FA Cup and the Europa League respectively.
On the topic of defeats, he stressed: “I don’t react well when we lose. I don’t like losing. I know people say sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but that’s not how I think.
“For me, it’s about winning every single time. I don’t care who we play against, it’s just about winning every time.
“I know that people think differently, and for some people it goes well even if you lose, but when I lose, I see problems everywhere. I see problems with myself, I see what I’ve done wrong and I’m unhappy.
“That’s how I’ve been since I was little. When I lost, I went home and closed myself inside a room. When my mother shouted that dinner was ready, I had locked the door so that no one could enter. But she knew it would go over and that I would come out when I was hungry.”
Fernandes started to shine for Sporting during the 2018/19 season, where his contribution attracted attention across Europe. According to his former teammates, as per TV2, the ‘big secret’ behind his good form was a ‘cereal with a chocolate flavour’.
“Ha-ha, yes. We had Chocapic, a chocolate cereal. On match days we always had lunch, then rest, before we again came back to eat,” Fernandes said.
“For me, it’s sometimes impossible to eat, for example, pasta for lunch, to then come back to eat more two hours later, so every time I ate that cereal everyone in Sporting said that was the secret to me scoring so many goals.
“It was the season I had scored 32 goals, so everyone said this was my secret. In Portugal, everyone knows I ate this cereal. Now I don’t eat it anymore.
“It’s not because I don’t have it, because there’s a Portuguese supermarket in Manchester selling it, but because I’ve changed a little bit on some things and do things a little differently. But the results are still the same and as good as I want them to be.”
