Attacking-midfielder Bruno Fernandes has revealed that he reminded his Manchester United teammates of just how much progress they have made this season ahead of their 2-1 derby day victory over Manchester City at Old Trafford.
After falling behind to Jack Grealish's headed opener on the hour mark, United turned the game on its head inside the last quarter of an hour, courtesy of goals from Fernandes and Marcus Rashford. The former brought the Reds level in controversial fashion after it appeared as though Rashford had interfered with play from an offside position, only for referee Stuart Attwell to allow Fernandes' effort to stand.
Rashford, who has now scored 16 times this season, then completed the comeback, turning home Alejandro Garnacho's low cross to seal a ninth successive win for the Reds and lift them up to third in the Premier League table, just a point behind City. United had struggled to get into much of a rhythm during the second half and did not look like scoring until Fernandes' leveller.
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United, though, have found a collective spirit this season, revitalised by manager Erik ten Hag, meaning they never know when they are beaten. And Fernandes has admitted that he reminded his teammates ahead of kick-off of what they have achieved this season as a collective unit.
"It is always important to win the game," Fernandes told BT Sport. "As I said before the game: for us it doesn't mater who the opponent is, the only important thing is winning - and we did it.
"It was an amazing comeback and a great effort from the team. As I said before the game to the team: 'We look like a team now'.
"Several months ago, or sometime ago, you could see that the team, sometimes, was looking out for ourselves, but now you see a proper team that works hard for each other and you see that in place."
On his goal, Fernandes added: "I think because I was facing the goal Marcus probably saw my run. I was in a better position.
"I don't know if any of us were offside or not, but it doesn't have any influence because there was no-one closer to him, so it doesn't make any influence on how they defend. The only one close was the one close to me, so it is a goal and we are very happy for that."
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