Bruno Fernandes scored two stunning goals for Manchester United on Tuesday night as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side cruised to a 4-1 Champions League win over Istanbul Basaksehir – and a Leeds United player has put rivalry between the two clubs aside to send praise on Instagram, telling Fernandes “I’m a fan”.
Fernandes opened the scoring with a stunning strike from the edge of the area, before tapping home a second after a huge mistake from the Basaksehir goalkeeper. Marcus Rashford and former Leeds target Dan James also got their names on the score sheet – as United all but secured their place in the knockout rounds of the Champions League.
Back in his Sporting Lisbon days, Fernandes played alongside a current Leeds player. Summer signing Raphinha, 23, had a hand in 14 goals during his 41 Sporting appearances alongside Fernandes – before swapping Portugal for France where he joined Rennes in the summer of 2019. A few months after Raphinha left Sporting and Fernandes, the now-United playmaker said in December 2019 – as per Top Mercato: “Raphinha … I miss Raphinha.”
Clearly, the two enjoyed a close relationship with eachother at Sporting. Now, Fernandes is arguably Manchester United’s best and most-important player while Raphinha is taking his first steps into English football with Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa. Fernandes posted on his Instagram after his brace against Basaksehir.
Raphinha commented on his Instagram, clearly putting aside the enemy status between the two sides to congratulate his former teammate. His choice of wording, though, is hardly ideal.
His message “Craque demais. Sou fa,” is translated as “Too good. I’m a fan.
