Bruno Fernandes injury latest as Erik ten Hag criticises ‘pathetic’ treatment of Man Utd captain

Bruno Fernandes was videoed limping as he left the City Ground on Wednesday night following Manchester United’s 1-0 FA Cup win over Nottingham Forest.

The midfielder was an injury doubt ahead of the game but played the full 90 minutes in the fifth-round victory and provided an assist for Casemiro’s 89th-minute-winning header. But his involvement in Sunday’s Manchester derby has been thrown into doubt after Fernandes was filmed hobbling out of the ground.

The Manchester Evening News’ Samuel Luckhurst posted the video, along with the caption: “Would still expect him to start Sunday. Still never missed a game for #mufc through injury.”

Fernandes has missed just two games this season, one through suspension and the other coming in a routine Carabao Cup win over Crystal Palace in September. But the Portugal international faced criticism at the weekend following his antics against Fulham.

Fernandes was caught by Sasa Lukic in the latter stages of the 2-1 defeat, with the United captain seen rolling around on the ground for around 10 seconds before picking himself up and playing on once the ball came into his vicinity. It was a clip that was shared multiple times on social media and even resulted in Fulham posting a TikTok video of the incident, with the caption: "So glad to see he’s ok."

But Fernandes’ treatment clearly irked Ten Hag, who labelled criticism of the 29-year-old as ‘pathetic’. Asked about the injury in the build-up to the game, the United boss replied: “I don't want to go into that because you saw that Forest was targeting him, so I don't tell what he has but it was a serious injury.

“There were many fouls on him. Maybe I am a little bit too tough but when he has the ball they were really tight on him. Then I see that serious media criticise him and social media is pathetic and it can't be.

“He has a serious injury but he continued to play on Saturday and today he also fought to be part of the game and he has a very high pain threshold. Last year he did also something similar against Spurs and in the semi-final and it shows his leadership because that expresses his character and that is very good when you are a leader.”

United’s win over Forest sets up a quarter-final tie against Liverpool, which will be played at Old Trafford over the weekend of 16/17 March. Elsewhere, Manchester City were drawn at home against Newcastle United, Chelsea will play Leicester City and Coventry City will travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers.