Manchester United attacking midfielder Bruno Fernandes was arguably the best player of the 2025/26 Premier League season and played a crucial role in leading Michael Carrick’s side back to the Champions League as one of European football’s biggest chance creation mavens.
But under Roberto Martinez for the Portuguese national team at the 2026 World Cup, Fernandes can come nowhere near recapturing that magic, and he proved to be a tremendous liability yet again.
Fernandes was frustratingly ghosting all game long again, and while Portugal were able to pull off a last gasp 2-1 win over Luka Modric and Croatia in the end, they were very nearly taken out of the game.
While Fernandes is far from the only disappointing midfielder for Portugal, it has been truly jarring to see how few chances he is creating, how little control he gives the midfield, and how badly he is flopping against the big opponents for the Selecao.
Against Croatia, Fernandes barely won the ball, created no chance, and could only scratch and claw his way to relevancy. It was not the worst performance of his career, but it was well below average and far below the standard Manchester United received from him in 2025/26.
Fernandes has been a sudden problem for Portugal, and that has not changed at all. If Roberto Martinez cannot get the veteran No. 10 back on track against Spain, another early sub followed by a more permanent benching could be in line.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.