Bruno Fernandes compares Manchester United teammate Paul Pogba to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

Pogba expected to be fit when the football season resumes.
REUTERS
Tony Mogan15 April 2020

Bruno Fernandes insists critics are guilty of forgetting just how good Manchester United teammate Paul Pogba is - insisting he deals with the same level of expectation as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Pogba has been limited to just eight appearances for United this season - his last coming on Boxing Day - having struggled with injury throughout the campaign.

Fernandes, who has scored three goals and provided four assists in his first nine appearances for the club, is relishing the opportunity to link up with the France international - having been on more than one occasion tipped to be the man to replace Pogba should he leave Old Trafford this summer.

And while he admits it has been a tough season for the World Cup winner, he insists the rest of the United squad expect him to bounce back.

Action Images via Reuters

Fernandes told United’s official website: “We can say in football that people normally forget what you do good when you have a mistake. You can do good for 34 games, and one game you do bad and everyone will remember that.

“Paul is coming from a bad moment, because of the situation. When he played also, the club and the team was not good, because the expectations are high for Paul, because Paul is a top player and Manchester United pay a lot for him, and expectations are a lot for him.

“It's normal when you are in that situation you don't play like a superstar, because everyone expects from Paul like they expect from [Cristiano] Ronaldo at Juventus or [Lionel] Messi at Barcelona. Everyone expects this from Paul in Manchester, because they know he has the qualities for this. Also this is confidence in Paul. The team, we have a lot of confidence in Paul.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in