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Rob Dawson, Correspondent
Manchester United are furious with suggestions that Bruno Fernandes feigned injury against Fulham and are disappointed with their Premier League rivals’ role in provoking a social media backlash against the midfielder, a source has told ESPN.
Fernandes suffered what Erik ten Hag called a “serious injury” in the latter stages of the 2-1 defeat to Fulham at Old Trafford on Saturday.
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The Portugal midfielder was able to finish the game and was also passed fit to start the 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
United, according to a source, have viewed it as “regrettable” that Fulham posted a video to their official TikTok account showing Fernandes apparently in pain and then getting to his feet to continue playing with the caption “so glad he’s OK” and accompanied by an eye-rolling emoji.
It was among many social reactions pointing the finger at Fernandes’ behaviour.
United have decided against contacting Fulham and are keen to move on from the incident, but the club are unhappy with the perception that their captain is a play-actor who was looking to con referee Michael Oliver during the defeat to Fulham.
Speaking after the victory over Forest, Ten Hag said Fernandes had played through the pain barrier to feature at the City Ground, where he set up the winner for Casemiro with a free kick.
Ten Hag refused to confirm or deny whether Fernandes needed pain-killing injections to play against Forest, but said: “I’m not going to say what [injury] he has but it’s a serious injury and seeing how serious it was, they criticise him on social media and it’s pathetic and can’t be.
“He has a serious injury but he continues to play on Saturday, he fought to be part of this game.
“He has a very high pain threshold and last year he did something similar at Spurs [Tottenham] and it shows his leadership and that is very good when you are a leader, it flows into the team.”