While OGS fears Fernandes will miss Brighton & Spurs, Portugal’s match moves to Italy
Last Updated: March 4, 2021 3:23 pm
Solskjaer airs Bruno worries
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is concerned about letting key player Bruno Fernandes leave to join up with the Portuguese national side, amid fears he could, in turn, be unavailable due to self isolation regulations.
The international break is set to go ahead at the end of the month, with Portugal scheduled to take on Azerbaijan and Serbia. Portugal is currently on the UK’s red list of nations, meaning that, should Bruno Fernandes leave and then return, he would need to self isolate for up to 10 days.
“We’ve not sat down and made a proper call on that one but it doesn’t make sense if you lose your player for 10 days of isolation, of course it doesn’t,” said Solskjaer.
Manchester United’s Norwegian manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reacts during the English Premier League football match between Burnley and Manchester United at Turf Moor in Burnley, north west England on January 12, 2021. (Photo by Clive Brunskill / POOL / AFP)
“We’re the ones paying the players and from what I understand FIFA have given the rules that they don’t have to be released. So I would think that’s going to be a hard call to make to let them go and play in red list countries, yeah.
“I want Bruno of course, ready against Brighton and hopefully that we are through in Europe and against Tottenham after that break, of course I do.”
FIFA have given clubs the power to prevent their players from joining up with their international teammates, should travel restrictions result in a self isolation period of 5 days or more. Therefore, Manchester United could choose to hold Fernandes back.
Ronaldo will not leave Turin
Bruno Fernandes, if he does depart, will join up with international teammate Cristiano Ronaldo for the matches during the break. However, the Juventus striker will no longer need to leave the city in which he resides, because the match between Portugal and Azerbaijan has been moved to be played at the Allianz stadium in Turin.
🔴 #Ronaldo non lascerà Torino nel corso della prossima sosta delle nazionali. La partita del #Portogallo del 24 marzo contro #Azerbaijan è stata spostata allo Stadium
(#gds)
— Giovanni Capuano (@capuanogio) March 4, 2021
A statement on the Portuguese football federation’s website read:
‘The set of travel restrictions with origin and destination in Portugal and other countries, as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, forced the Portuguese Football Federation to work on alternative plans for the preparation stage and for the National Team A qualifying kick-off game. for the 2022 World Cup.
After studying the existing restrictions and analysing different solutions, we inform that the National Team will prepare and dispute the opening game of the qualifiers for the World Cup ’22 with Azerbaijan on the premises and at the stadium of Juventus FC, in the city of Turin (Italy).’
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This article was edited by Conor Laird.
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| # | Team | MP | D | P |
| 1 | Manchester City FC | 32 | 44 | 74 |
| 2 | Manchester United FC | 31 | 27 | 63 |
| 3 | Leicester City FC | 31 | 18 | 56 |
| 4 | West Ham United FC | 32 | 11 | 55 |
| 5 | Chelsea FC | 31 | 19 | 54 |
| 6 | Liverpool FC | 31 | 16 | 52 |
| 7 | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 32 | 17 | 50 |
| 8 | Everton FC | 31 | 3 | 49 |
| 9 | Arsenal FC | 31 | 8 | 45 |
| 10 | Leeds United | 31 | 0 | 45 |
| 11 | Aston Villa FC | 30 | 10 | 44 |
| 12 | Wolverhampton Wanderers FC | 31 | -10 | 38 |
| 13 | Crystal Palace FC | 31 | -19 | 38 |
| 14 | Southampton FC | 31 | -17 | 36 |
| 15 | Newcastle United FC | 32 | -18 | 35 |
| 16 | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 31 | -5 | 33 |
| 17 | Burnley FC | 31 | -17 | 33 |
| 18 | Fulham FC | 32 | -18 | 26 |
| 19 | West Bromwich Albion | 31 | -31 | 24 |
| 20 | Sheffield United FC | 31 | -38 | 14 |
| Player | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Kane, Harry | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 21 |
| Salah, Mohamed | Liverpool FC | 19 |
| Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United FC | 16 |
| Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 14 |
| Bamford, Patrick | Leeds United | 14 |
| Calvert-Lewin, Dominic | Everton FC | 14 |
| Lacazette, Alexandre | Arsenal FC | 13 |
| Vardy, Jamie | Leicester City FC | 12 |
| Watkins, Ollie | Aston Villa FC | 12 |
| Gundogan, Ilkay | Manchester City FC | 12 |
| Rashford, Marcus | Manchester United FC | 10 |
| Wilson, Callum | Newcastle United FC | 10 |
| Sterling, Raheem | Manchester City FC | 9 |
| Ings, Danny | Southampton FC | 9 |
| Mahrez, Riyad | Manchester City FC | 9 |
| Barnes, Harvey | Leicester City FC | 9 |
| Lingard, Jesse | West Ham United FC | 9 |
| Zaha, Wilfried | Crystal Palace FC | 9 |
| Aubameyang, Pierre-Emerick | Arsenal FC | 9 |
| Soucek, Tomas | West Ham United FC | 9 |
| Player | Team | Red Cards | Yellow Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maguire, Harry | Manchester United FC | 0 | 9 |
| Lundstram, John | Sheffield United FC | 1 | 8 |
| Gallagher, Conor | West Bromwich Albion | 0 | 8 |
| Bellerin, Hector | Arsenal FC | 0 | 8 |
| Milivojevic, Luka | Crystal Palace FC | 1 | 7 |
| Luiz, Douglas | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 7 |
| Hayden, Isaac | Newcastle United FC | 0 | 8 |
| Soucek, Tomas | West Ham United FC | 1 | 6 |
| Shaw, Luke | Manchester United FC | 0 | 7 |
| McGinn, John | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 7 |
| Neves, Ruben | Wolverhampton Wanderers FC | 0 | 7 |
| Hojbjerg, Pierre | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 0 | 7 |
| Xhaka, Granit | Arsenal FC | 1 | 6 |
| Phillips, Kalvin | Leeds United | 0 | 7 |
| Evans, Jonny | Leicester City FC | 0 | 7 |
| Egan, John | Sheffield United FC | 1 | 6 |
| Targett, Matt | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 7 |
| Holgate, Mason | Everton FC | 0 | 7 |
| Bissouma, Yves | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 1 | 6 |
| Grealish, Jack | Aston Villa FC | 0 | 6 |
| Player | Team | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| Kane, Harry | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 13 |
| Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United FC | 11 |
| Grealish, Jack | Aston Villa FC | 10 |
| De Bruyne, Kevin | Manchester City FC | 10 |
| Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur FC | 9 |
| Rashford, Marcus | Manchester United FC | 7 |
| Cresswell, Aaron | West Ham United FC | 7 |
| Bamford, Patrick | Leeds United | 6 |
| Vardy, Jamie | Leicester City FC | 6 |
| Sterling, Raheem | Manchester City FC | 6 |
| Pereira, Matheus | West Bromwich Albion | 6 |
| Mane, Sadio | Liverpool FC | 6 |
| Raphinha | Leeds United | 6 |
| Werner, Timo | Chelsea FC | 6 |
| Neto, Pedro | Wolverhampton Wanderers FC | 6 |
| Gross, Pascal | Brighton & Hove Albion FC | 6 |
| Digne, Lucas | Everton FC | 6 |
| Maddison, James | Leicester City FC | 5 |
| Bowen, Jarrod | West Ham United FC | 5 |
| Antonio, Michail | West Ham United FC | 5 |
