Manchester United's midfielder Bruno Fernandes has stated that the Old Trafford crowd will have a huge role to play when the team welcomes Barcelona to Manchester for the return leg of their Europa League playoff game.
The Portugal international, who has been an ever-present presence in Erik Ten Hag's squad this season, has indicated that fan power helped secure vital victories against the likes of Liverpool and current Premier League Champions Manchester City this season. The number eight believes he and the team will need the unwavering support of the fans again to crush Barcelona on Thursday night at Old Trafford.
“For me, the key moment of this season is the Liverpool game,” Bruno Fernandes told Manchester United's legend Rio Ferdinand in an interview on BT Sport. “I think that is the main moment for us because we come from two really bad results [against Brighton and Brentford].
“And then we got that win." "The stadium was once again on fire; it was an unbelievable atmosphere that the fans created for us.”
The Red Devils played out a 2-2 stalemate against Barcelona last Thursday when they visited the Catalans at their home stadium, Spotify Nou Camp in Spain. Erik Ten Hag's men threatened and almost got a win over the La Liga table leaders, but we were unlucky to concede following a misplaced Manchester United's pass while trying to build the play from the back.
The fans have evidently and vigorously shown their support for the team this season. Even in games when they appeared to be on the verge of losing, Old Trafford faithfuls have been a force, and the players have consistently admitted that they tap into the atmosphere created by the fans in home games this season.
"Obviously this game was that [next] step." Everyone thought, "Now it's city." Now it's the team that has played the best football in England in the last five or six years. "Let's see if they can deal with that."
“And we did. We did really well. "We won that game, and I think we showed a lot of passion, a lot of character, and a lot of quality too, knowing how to defend against a team that plays really good football."
“They've been together for so many years; they have a good connection." "But knowing when we have to press them, when we have to stay a little bit low, when we have to counter, when we have to keep the ball, we did it very well," Bruno Fernandes explained.
Bruno Fernandes further claimed that the team and the fans now share a connection, and it's obvious how it has continuously played out each time the players lineup on the pitch.
"Obviously we were 1-0 down [against City] and we had the draw at that moment [after I equalized].
“We felt in the game that the fans were behind us; the momentum now [is with us]; the stadium was on fire." We felt: "We can win this game.”
Manchester United's manager Erik Ten Hag has also gotten the fans fired up and wants them to be in anticipation for positive events that will play out before the season runs out.
"We are all on a journey together, moving forward game by game, and, tonight, we need the fans, as well as the players, to be at the top of their game if we are to create a memorable night at Old Trafford,” he told the official matchday program, United Review.
Old Trafford has been rocking this season under Erik Ten Hag and an abstract from a statement released by manunited.com shows there have been three loudest games this season at Old Trafford.
The abstract from the statement reads thus: "Sound experts at the club measure the decibel levels around Old Trafford during every home fixture and the results show that our fans have turned it up when it was needed the most this season.
We can confirm the three loudest matches in 2022/23 so far have been against our historic rivals in the Premier League.
Based on the average decibel level, our dramatic 2-1 win over Manchester City is the third loudest game so far (94.3dB), followed by September’s important 3-1 victory against Arsenal (94.9dB).
The loudest Old Trafford match this season is the 2-1 triumph over Liverpool in August (95.9dB), which was widely viewed as a turning point in our term following those back-to-back defeats against Brighton and Brentford."
Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 17 home games across all competitions, drawing just twice.
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