“Why shouldn’t I?”: Bruno Fernandes reveals ambition to emulate key trait of Cristiano Ronaldo | OneFootball

Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has expressed a desire to follow in the footsteps of club legend and international teammate Cristiano Ronaldo by continuously improving and perfecting his penalty-taking technique.

Fernandes holds the record for most penalty goals in United’s history, scoring 36 times – eight more than Ruud van Nistelrooy in second place. Wayne Rooney ranks third with 27, while Cristiano Ronaldo converted 21 penalties for the club.

The skipper sat down with club media and discussed the art of penalty-taking and inevitably, he was asked who he would pick to score a penalty to save his life.

This discussion saw Fernandes give crucial insights into what goes into stepping up for a spot-kick. In addition to Ronaldo, he also hailed Marcus Rashford and former Sampdoria teammate Fabio Quagliarella

Fernandes said, “Many of the penalty-takers, they have a side and they go there. They choose the side before, they go powerful and everything, and they still score. I don’t know, this was always something that I learned from [Fabio] Quagliarella, at the time I was in Sampdoria.”

“He was always checking with the goalkeepers, what he should do, the way he kicked and everything because, obviously, he had a quick run-up and a very powerful shot. But he was always trying to understand the movements of the goalkeeper and everything and I got that from him.”

“I always want to learn. I always want to learn with the best ones. When we go with the national team, I am always having chats with Cristiano [Ronaldo] to understand, also, the way he does it and we do speak a lot. He sometimes asks me what I think about the goalkeeper and everything.”

The 30-year-old added, “Even Cristiano, if you see him now is different now from the past. If I see the penalty from Cristiano against Chelsea in the final of the Champions League [in 2008] and the ones that he takes after that, he is changing his way of kicking and now he’s changing again.”

“So you are always having to adapt yourself to the game because things change quickly. People get to know you better and better and better. And then you sometimes need to do something different. And we’re talking about one of the best penalty-takers in the world.”

“If you probably ask anyone in the world, who will you choose to take your penalty at the 90th minute and to save your life, or whatever, most of the people would say Cristiano. Because they know, in that kind of moment, he is decisive. And it works. So, even if Cristiano, that is one of the best penalty-takers in the world, is changing, why shouldn’t I? Why shouldn’t I improve myself and try to do different things?”

Pressed further on whether Ronaldo would be the man Fernandes would choose to take a penalty to save his life, the skipper answered, “I think you had many in this club that were good penalty-takers, as I say Cristiano, in the decisive moments, is very cold and is someone that is very well prepared mentally to take penalties in the decisive moments. But I could say that Marcus [Rashford] is also someone, since he changed his technique.”

“Because, before I came to the club, I’ve never seen Marcus take penalties how he is taking them now. He changed the way he takes his penalties. He waits for the goalkeeper much longer and, before I came to the club, I saw that he was going with a much quicker run-up to the goalkeeper, without like having a side and just shooting there.”

Fernandes concluded that while Ronaldo is the obvious choice, Rashford is also a good candidate as he boasts a high success rate.

United are back in action on April 1 when they go away to the City Ground to take on Nottingham Forest.

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