New season, new targets, same old Bruno Fernandes.
The Portuguese ‘magnifico’ has shaken the Premier League to its core since he joined
Ole’s tricky reds in January 2020.
Bruno has taken everything in his stride and has now become one of the best players in
the league.
Today on Goal90, we’ll be looking at 10 things you didn’t know about Bruno Fernandes.
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Straight to it.
Look out for some shockers!
Passionate Football fan It is easy to see how much love and dedication
Bruno puts into his football and that he is a childhood Manchester United fan.
However, Bruno also supported Porto as a child because of his mother, until he signed for
their rivals sporting in 2017.
Interestingly, that could all have been different had he taken Porto’s offer to sign him as
a kid.
Instead, he went to Boavista because his parents didn’t have a car to drive him to Porto
daily.
He could’ve played for the Swiss national team
Bruno’s father, Jose Fernandes, wanted to move the whole family to Switzerland when
Bruno was barely 12 years old.
His father wanted to improve the lifestyle of their family and saw emigration to Switzerland
as a way out.
However, the young Bruno, who had just started out at Boavista, stubbornly refused to move
with his family.
He believed that football in Switzerland was not up to the standard of football in Portugal.
His family eventually gave in, and they stayed in Portugal, and the rest, as they say, is
history.
Bruno Fernandes would’ve been eligible to play for the Swiss national team if his family
moved, and who knows what could’ve become of that possibility?
He used to play as a defender Bruno Fernandes played as a central defender
when he started playing football, and he would’ve continued as a central defender if not for
a difference in opinion between his youth coaches.
Bruno started his career at Boavista, playing well enough as a central defender whose intelligence
and gameplay was highly praised.
At 15, Boavista sent him on loan to Pasteleira where the youth coaches saw the potential
for Bruno to play further up the pitch.
They eventually oversaw a switch to the number 10 position for Bruno, which proved to be
an inspired decision.
Bruno continued to work hard and work his socks off and is now regarded as one of the
best midfielders in the world.
His 'number 8' tattoo is a tribute to his father
Fernandes has a large ‘number 8’ tattoo on his right arm and it’s rather hard to
miss.
There’s indeed a story behind it.
Bruno Fernandes’ father, Jose Fernandes was an ex-footballer who couldn’t get his
big break in the sport, and had to leave the pitch to provide for his family.
As a player, Jose Fernandes wore the number 8 and was idolized by his son who had already
decided he was going to play football just like his father.
Bruno was also born on the 8th of September, and has worn the number 8 on his back at almost
every club he’s played for ever since as tribute to his father and his birth date.
Currently, the shirt is donned by Juan Mata whose future with United is uncertain.
We may see Bruno wear his favourite number once again.
At number 5, let’s go off the pitch a little shall we?
He married his high-school sweetheart Bruno met his wife, Ana Pinho, when they were
just 16 and they’ve been together ever since.
She has supported his career in every way, even moving with him to Italy in 2012, the
first time he left Portugal.
Thy got married in 2015 and have two kids; a son and a daughter.
A Lovely family man Although daddy’s number eight is tattooed
on Bruno’s arm to also signify his birthday, the number 18 he wears for Manchester United
pays homage to his wife’s birthday.
Bruno Fernandes also idolized Paul Scholes alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, and wearing the
former’s number just seemed like the right thing to do for a man like Bruno.
His affairs are also managed by his wife’s brother, keeping the business side of things
within the family.
Bruno’s love for family is what drives him to be better.
Bruno seems to be all love and light, and this is why number 7 will shock you.
Bruno Fernandes has a very bad temper on him In the history of football, great players
have been known to battles quite a number of demons, especially anger issues.
And just like those great players, Bruno Fernandes too has a pretty bad temper.
On one particular event, the Portuguese midfielder was sent off against his former club Boavista
while playing for Sporting CP back in September 2019.
He went into a fit of rage as he walked down the tunnel, swearing at everyone and thrashing
about like a petulant child.
The whole incident was broadcast on national TV in Portugal.
He also was reported to have ripped his contract to shreds at Sporting, along with some of
his teammates, after getting angry at fans for attacking them with weapons for failing
to qualify for the Champions League in 2018.
That anger was justifiable, of course, but it does show us how emotional the Manchester
United’s talisman can get.
The number 8 fact is going to be as shocking as it is interesting.
He had a poster of Stephen Ireland in his bedroom.
Bruno Fernandes shed tears of joy when he was told he’d be joining Manchester United,
the club he’d supported since childhood.
He had idolized Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Scholes, and was finally going to play at
the same cub his idols played.
But Bruno had one other idol: Manchester City’s Stephen Ireland.
It’s shocking to think that a Manchester United fan would idolize a player from his
club’s biggest rivals, but Bruno Fernandes absolutely loved Stephen Ireland, that he
got a poster of the former City midfielder and hung it in his bedroom.
A further twist to events is that both men now live in the same neighborhood in Manchester.
They probably have barbecue together on their off days too, who knows.
Let’s get back to the pitch with fact number 9.
Goal celebration Goal celebrations are a footballer’s most
iconic moment in every game.
The goals are good, but when Cristiano hits the “SIUUU!”, the goals are made even
better.
The same applies when Pogba does his dances or when Messi raises his hands to the heavens.
Many of these celebrations have their own stories, and so does Bruno’s.
The midfielder puts his hand around both his ears in honour of his daughter Matilde and
son Goncalo.
He cups his ears because Matilde pretends not to hear him and Goncalo, well, is still
a baby.
Speaking more specifically, the celebration dates all the way back to his second season
in Sporting.
In the midst of conversations with his wife and then very little daughter, she would normally
put her hands to cover her ears and being a family man, Fernandes thought to include
that in his celebrations.
Who knows if that might be his ‘lucky charm’ to do so well on the pitch.
It is quite a touching story, don’t you think?
Bruno’s peculiar relaxation routine The superstar is unsurprisingly very conscious
of his diet and nutrition, and takes a 90-minute nap after lunch.
He confessed to heavily depending on chocolate cereal called ‘Chocapic’ to refuel.
But what else does he do to relax?
The Man United dynamo prefers a low-key lifestyle and likes to spend time with his kids at home
or play ludo with teammates, Brazilians and fellow Portuguese speakers Fred and Alex Telles.
And there you have it!
10 things you most likely didn’t know about Bruno Fernandes.
Of the 10, which was your favourite fact?
Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to like this video and subscribe for more
content.
That’s all for today and bye for now.