Will Manchester United star feel obliged to play tonight despite injury?

Manchester United star Bruno Fernandes will return to Portugal’s starting line-up against Denmark tonight. Only a few days after a physical problem kept him out against Norway, yes.

Jorge Jesus has now confirmed it himself, so there’s no longer any doubt over whether Bruno will be involved.

But there’s another little twist too, which a few social media shouts have anticipated: as Cristiano Ronaldo has unexpectedly left the Portugal camp, Bruno could even end up wearing the captain’s armband in Copenhagen.

Given everything that’s been said about his fitness over the past week, Manchester United might just hope he’s as ready as everyone in Portugal now seems to think.

Jesus confirms Bruno will play

Today in Portugal, Record reported that Jesus is planning another three or four changes to his team. Bruno will be among those coming in.

The Portugal manager also explained the conversation which led to the Manchester United star sitting out Sunday’s 2-1 win over Norway.

“After the Wales game he was carrying a knock, so I asked him what was going on. He opened up to me,” Jesus said.

“I told him: ‘You won’t play the next game and you’ll play against Denmark if you recover.’ That’s exactly what I did with Ronaldo. Bruno will play against Denmark.”

That’s pretty definitive. Bruno had previously told Jesus he’d been playing with pain in the last three United matches. The manager said the problem was restricting him and had affected his performance for Portugal against Wales.

The midfielder then did specific recovery work before returning to full training without limitations earlier this week. Jesus clearly thinks that was enough.

He could be captain too

There’s now a decent chance Bruno’s return comes with some extra responsibility. Correio da Manhã, carrying information from Portuguese news agency Lusa, says either Bruno or Bernardo Silva will captain Portugal tonight. This is following Ronaldo’s departure.

If Bernardo doesn’t start, the armband is expected to go to the Manchester United captain.

O Jogo’s predicted XI has Bruno starting and Bernardo on the bench, although that’s obviously their prediction rather than Jesus’ team sheet.

But Bruno being desperate to play football isn’t really breaking news. Jesus revealed earlier in this international break that he “really wanted” to face Wales despite carrying that injury.

So perhaps the question for Manchester United is how willing Bruno would be to admit if he still wasn’t quite right.

He’s been rested, he’s trained normally and Portugal’s medical staff have clearly given him the green light. There’s nothing to suggest he’s being pushed into playing injured now.

Still, a big game, a likely starting place and potentially the captain’s armband aren’t exactly circumstances in which you’d expect Bruno Fernandes to volunteer for another night off.

Manchester United will just hope the few days of rest have done the job.