Manchester United’s top-four hopes were brought back to life on Wednesday with a narrow and hard-fought 1-0 victory over Brentford.
The Red Devils have been in a poor run of form, going into the game with the Bees without a win in three.
But Marcus Rashford’s strike was enough to keep their dreams of the Champions League clear and present.
David de Gea also played a vital role as he recovered from his first-half error to deny the visitors with a brilliant stop after the break.
For most of the opening 45, the Spanish keeper looked like he was in need of a wake-up call as his poor distribution almost gifted Brentford a goal.
After Newcastle targeted that weakness in his game, Brentford did the same and Ivan Toney almost made him pay when a clearance deflected off him.
Their best chance came when Kevin Schade was one-on-one with the United keeper, only for De Gea to produce a good save to smother the effort. In the process, he took one for the team, needing some treatment after the clash with the player.
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And in footage captured in those moments, Bruno Fernandes offered a glimpse into his leadership style by kicking the shot-stopper as he received treatment.
United physios didn’t look pleased as the Portugal international aimed a couple of kicks towards the midsection of De Gea.
“Well that totally worked because De Gea was all fine after that, so Bruno > Medics,” one fan said in response to the incident.
“(Insert meme) Wake up, do something!”, another posted. “Lol he said ‘what a save mate but get up’,” a third joked.
Erik ten Hag said: “When you need David, he is there and when you lose focus, mistakes can happen. We want to play as a machine and don’t make mistakes.
‘’We make one mistake and luckily they didn’t benefit from it and also it was the performance from David de Gea.”
