Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has defended his decision not to start Bruno Fernandes in Manchester United’s FA Cup loss to Leicester City.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Bruno Fernandes is not ‘inhuman’ and can’t possibly start all the games for Manchester United.
The Reds lost 3-1 to the Foxes on Sunday in the FA Cup quarter-finals. A brace from in-form Kelechi Iheanacho and a Youri Tielemans strike were enough to see Leicester advance. Mason Greenwood leveled the scoring in the first half but it ended up as a mere ‘consolation’ at the end of the day.
Quite questionable is the fact that Solskjaer made five changes to the side that played against AC Milan in the Europa League on Thursday. The most notable omission from the starting XI was star man Bruno Fernandes.
With the international break just around the corner, many of the United fans claimed there was no need to rest their midfield kingpin.
That decision might have proved to be costly as the Red Devils visibly failed to create anything of note from an attacking perspective.
Speaking after the game, Solskjaer explained why Fernandes cannot start every game while adding that he had no regrets over his lineup.
“Every team selection has reasons behind it. Bruno has played very, very much football. He broke all his records on Thursday night [at the San Siro] physically statistically, and the boy is not inhuman,” he said as quoted by the club’s website.
“He’s also a human being, he’s played a game every three or four days really. It was a chance to start to both Donny [van de Beek] and Paul [Pogba]. The accumulation of games maybe caught up with us.”
“I know Bruno wants to play but sometimes you make decisions for the benefit of both the team and him.”
Due to the coronavirus guidelines that might affect Fernandes, United will most likely not release the midfielder for international duty.
As it stands, the Europa League now represents the Red Devils’ final chance at silverware this season.
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