Roy Keane appears to have attacked Bruno Fernandes again after being labeled a liar by the Manchester United captain. “If you give it too much attention, the donkey will think it’s a lion,” Keene wrote on her Instagram Story. The jibe follows Fernandes’ reaction to the Irishman as their feud continues. The United talisman made history on the final day of the Premier League with his 21st assist of the season.
This feat puts him ahead of Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry Henry, who each scored 20 goals. Fernandes equalized with the pair in United’s 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest last week, but Keane took issue with his apparent obsession with the assist record, slamming it as a “circus act”. Keane hinted that Fernandes valued his assist record more highly than his match results, but the Portugal international balked at this.
Fernandes insisted he welcomes criticism, but told Podcast CEO’s Diary: “What I hate is when people lie about things. What you said about Roy Keane[in this]is basically a lie because he can’t say he saw the other interviews or the one thing I didn’t say is luckily on the record.”
“I accept his criticism and I accept that he may like or dislike me as a player, like me or dislike me as a person. But what I don’t like is when he puts words out of my mouth that he didn’t say. That’s the only thing I don’t like.”
Keane was visibly upset when he rounded Fernandes on the overlap, declaring: “Is it possible that a footballer’s mindset goes into a match worrying about personal records? He’s not going to win trophies and neither is the team’s mindset.”
Keene’s social media post Monday night appeared to be the latest development in the ongoing controversy. Fernandes only won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup during his six years at Manchester United.
Fernandes won both the Football Writers’ Association’s Men’s Player of the Year award and the Premier League’s Player of the Season award this season, and has since sought to smooth things over with Keane.
Fernandes revealed he had contacted former United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to ask for the Irishman’s contact details.
“To be honest, I even asked Ole for his phone number to let him know that I don’t mind being criticized.[But]I don’t like it when people lie about what they say, because this… is a little bit beyond what I think is acceptable.”
