Sport

Manchester United fans spot amusing messages on Bruno Fernandes’ match ball

He also set a new record in Europe.

Danny Jones - 14th March 2025

Manchester United have made it through to the quarter-finals of the Europa League following what can only be described as a captain’s performance by Bruno Fernandes, who scored a hattrick to take home the match ball.

He may have been given two penalties to help him on his way but still… can you see where this is going?

Rather amusingly, it didn’t take long for eagle-eyed fans to spot a series of comedic messages written by his teammates once a picture of the ball was shared on social media.

After Alejandro Garnacho posted a picture posing with Bruno Fernandes, it didn’t take much zooming in to spot a couple of sarcastic scribbles from other members of the squad. Who knows who wrote what or what else is written on there? All we know is it gave us a good chuckle.

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A post shared by Alejandro Garnacho (@garnacho7)

In case you can’t quite see for yourselves, just to the right-hand side of the ball reads, “How much you paid the ref?”, obviously in reference to him earning not one but two penalties, at least one of which was categorised as ‘soft’ by some.

We’re referring to the first instance when Rasmus Højlund (who did almost everything but score on the night as his duck in front of goal goes on) went to ground and did enough to earn them an equaliser through Bruno‘s first spot-kick.

Nevertheless, it was one of three penalties awarded on the night and there could have even been a fourth were it not for Patrick Dorgu, who won himself a second pen after falling in the box before ultimately urging the referee to overturn the decision once it went to VAR.

A particularly rare moment of sportsmanship which manager Ruben Amorim applauded, telling media “I’m proud of him” – though he did joke he’d think differently if they were still 0-0 at the time.

But besides the penalty jibes, the other discernible message left on Bruno’s match ball that has tickled Reds is the one that reads: “You were still s*** [in the] first of the half of the season.”

Credit: **Alejandro Garnacho** (screenshot via Instagram)

Always good to keep your footballing colleagues humble by continuing to take the mick no matter what.

As for the man of the match performance itself, it’s been one of a number by the ‘Portuguese Magnifico’ this season and despite Man United legend Roy Keane having taken aim at the 30-year-old regarding his leadership qualities recently, he only seems to have been lofted by the criticism.

In the Europa League, in particular, Thursday night’s hattrick also saw him set the record for the most goal involvement in the competition’s history, with 41 contributions in 53 games.

Amorim, naturally, was full of praise for his midfield talisman, insisting that he can thrive both further up the pitch and in this current deeper role, before going on to say: “He’s a perfect captain for our team and we need to help him to win titles because he deserves a lot.”

You can watch the highlights from the chaotic down below: