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Bruno Fernandes came out swinging on Instagram to destroy claims he threw shade at Ronaldo

Bruno Fernandes scored the equalising goal for Manchester United during their 2-1 win over Manchester City in rather controversial circumstances.

While there was nothing debatable about the way that Fernandes swept the ball past Ederson, there was no shortage of anger at the fact that Marcus Rashford was deemed not to have interfered with play just moments beforehand.

So, given how controversial that whole episode truly was, it’s perhaps surprising to learn that it wasn’t the only major topic of discussion surrounding Fernandes after the derby day triumph.

What did Fernandes say about Man Utd?

That’s because various versions of a quote attributed to Fernandes after the match led some to believe that he was making a thinly-veiled dig about Cristiano Ronaldo.

As is so often the case with social media, comments made by Fernandes to BT Sport on the pitch at Old Trafford with regards to teamwork evolved and warped into all manner of different combinations.

Watching back the footage, we can confirm that the Portuguese midfielder’s exact words were: “We look like a team now. Some months ago, some time ago, you could see sometimes a team, sometimes a little bit each one of us looking a bit for ourselves.

“Now you see a proper team that works hard for each other and you see that it pays.”

Video: Fernandes on Man Utd’s teamwork after Man City win

What were fans saying about Fernandes and Ronaldo?

Hearing Fernandes speak makes it pretty clear that he’s not throwing shade at any one player and certainly not his compatriot and former United teammate Ronaldo.

Nevertheless, the amount of fans that decreed that Fernandes was indeed referencing Ronaldo, who saw his contract at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ brought to a premature end on the back of an explosive interview with Piers Morgan, led the United star to speak out on Instagram.

Fans makes a link between Fernandes' interview and Ronaldo.
Fans think Fernandes threw shade at Ronaldo.
Fans read Ronaldo narratives into Fernandes' comments.
Spanish media claim Fernandes was throwing shade at Ronaldo.
Fan thinks Fernandes wanted to throw shade at Ronaldo.
Fan thinks Fernandes made an indirect dig at Ronaldo.

How did Fernandes respond to the Ronaldo claims?

Sharing an Instagram post which correctly transcribed the quotes on his own story, Fernandes made sure to let the haters know exactly how he felt about claims he was digging out Ronaldo.

Fernandes wrote in the caption: “I know that is difficult to see Manchester United doing well, [but I] don’t have anything to [say] about us on the news apart good things.

“Don’t use my name to attack Cristiano. Cristiano was part of our team for half the season and as I said in many interviews, everyone since Liverpool is being amazing and acting like a proper team and you can see the results. We carry on!”

Fernandes fires back at Ronaldo claims on Instagram.

Fernandes has been put in a very difficult position over the last few weeks where he’s routinely faced questions about Ronaldo given the acrimonious nature of his exit from Old Trafford.

Nevertheless, to Fernandes’ credit, he’s always struck a difficult balance between defending the integrity of Erik ten Hag’s United team and also not throwing his fellow Portuguese under the bus.

Either way, though, it’s fair to say that Saturday’s Manchester derby illustrated that the Red Devils aren’t exactly missing the Al-Nassr star right now.

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