Juan Mata sends perfect response to Bruno Fernandes after Man United beat Liverpool
Bruno Fernandes led Manchester United to a triumphant win over Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon, booking the Red Devils a place in the FA Cup semi-final
Juan Mata has sent Bruno Fernandes a classy message following Manchester United's incredible 4-3 win against Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-final. The 29-year-old captained Erik ten Hag's side to a historic victory on Sunday afternoon, marshalling the midfield before slotting into the backline in the dying embers of the tie.
After the game, Fernandes marked the occasion with a celebratory post on Instagram – which chalked up over a quarter of a million likes by the morning. The Portugal international wrote: "What a special afternoon for all of us [praying emoji]."
United supporters flooded the comment section in their thousands, heaping tremendous praise on Fernandes for his efforts. But one message from Mata stood out as the former United midfielder simply typed out three red heart emojis.
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United fans lapped up his comment, replying, 'Magnifico', 'King Mata' and 'El Mago'. Mason Mount, who replaced Victor Lindelof at half-time in extra time following an extended absence from the side due to injury, also showed his appreciation for Fernandes, writing: "Capi!!!"
Ten Hag's side will now turn their attention to the race for top four in the Premier League before their semi-final clash against Coventry City at Wembley Stadium. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News in the mixed zone at Old Trafford, Fernandes insisted that he and his teammates must remain focused as the business end of the season approaches.
"I think we have to understand the FA Cup is a thing and the Premier League is another one," said the Portuguese star. "In the league now, we have 10 matches to go and we don’t depend on ourselves, but as we saw yesterday, Tottenham lost points to Fulham, and today [Aston] Villa lost points to West Ham.
"But our main goal is to not lose points to Brentford away, so when we get back, we need to put our effort into winning that game. Our focus will be on winning that game. We need to win every game we have ahead to have belief we can get into those [Champions League] spots.
"Tottenham is now level with us in games. Villa have a game ahead of us, so we can get closer. But as I said, I want us to look at ourselves because if we don’t win games, there is no point.
"They can lose, but if we don’t win our games, the gap is there, so we know from our side we need to win every game and approach each game for the three points."
Then, when quizzed on somewhat of a favourable FA Cup draw, Fernandes added: "We just saw the draw and the reaction was the same as when we drew Liverpool because our goal is to get in the final.
"We won’t celebrate anything before because we have huge respect for every team we play against. We know from the draw obviously we’re playing a Championship team and not a Premier League team, but Wolves came out against them.
"So we don’t want to compare ourselves with Wolves, but we have to respect every team that comes here because I remember two seasons ago, we went out against Middlesbrough at home, so we have to give them the respect they deserve and give our best performance, as we did against Liverpool and with the same mentality."