Bruno Fernandes took his tally of goals in Euro 2024 qualifying to six with a superb strike in Portugal’s 2-0 win over against Iceland on Sunday.
The Manchester United captain is now joint-seventh on the leaderboard, as he helped the Selecao finish a truly remarkable campaign with 10 wins in as many matches.
Fernandes, as is the case in club football, was very much at the epicentre of the action for his country, and he emerged as the top assist-maker in the entire Euro 2024 qualifying competition by some distance.
Bruno registered a mightily impressive eight assists across the 10 games and, ahead of the remaining fixtures on Monday (20 November) and Tuesday (21 November), that puts him comfortably clear of his closest rivals on five.
The Reds skipper also sits joint-second in terms of goal involvements in Euro 2024 qualifying, with a combined total of 14 strikes and assists.
Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe is level with Bruno, having added to his tally with a hat-trick in Les Bleus’ huge 14-0 win over Gibraltar on Saturday.
Former United striker Romelu Lukaku tops both the goalscoring and goal-involvement charts with 14 goals and one assist. Fernandes is the only midfielder to feature among the top five contributors.
Bruno has been a crucial player for United and Portugal this season, and played a key role for his nation as they finished their qualifying campaign with a 100 per cent record, having scored 36 goals and conceded only two. Reds defender Diogo Dalot also had a telling impact on their strong defensive record.
Meanwhile, for United, our captain has scored four goals – three of which have been match-winners – and contributed three assists so far this season.
In August, when Erik ten Hag’s team went 2-0 down to Nottingham Forest early on, Fernandes grabbed the match by the scruff of the neck and played a pivotal role in an impressive comeback. After Christian Eriksen has reduced the deficit to one goal, our no.8 set up Casemiro to level it.
Bruno then broke in behind the Forest defence before being taken down by Joe Worrall, resulting in the defender being dismissed. Then, after Marcus Rashford had won a penalty, our captain stepped up to complete our comeback from the spot.
