Manchester United Question Bruno Fernandes’ Fitness as Varane Hopes to Return for FA Cup Final

Man­ches­ter Unit­ed are cau­tious­ly mon­i­tor­ing Bruno Fer­nan­des’ con­di­tion ahead of Thurs­day’s piv­otal Pre­mier League fix­ture against Tot­ten­ham Hot­spur, club informed ESPN.

Fer­nan­des suf­fered ankle injury in the first half of Sun­day’s FA Cup semi-final against Brighton & Hove Albion as Erik ten Hag’s side pre­vailed 7–6 on penal­ties after a goal­less draw.

Sources dis­closed that sub­sti­tut­ing Fer­nan­des at half­time was delib­er­at­ed upon when injured, but his deter­mi­na­tion to con­tin­ue pre­vailed. Even­tu­al­ly, Fer­nan­des was replaced in first half of extra time.

The Por­tuguese mid­field­er depart­ed Wem­b­ley Sta­di­um limp­ing but with­out pro­tec­tive boots. ESPN stat­ed he will train with the team this week and med­ical eval­u­a­tion on Mon­day will deter­mine if he can fea­ture against Tot­ten­ham Hot­spur Stadium.

Unit­ed trail Spurs by nine points with two match­es remain­ing, so vic­to­ry would sub­stan­tial­ly boost top four prospects.

Ten Hag cov­ets Fer­nan­des’ pres­ence. In four games with­out the 28-year-old Fer­nan­des start­ing this sea­son, Unit­ed have lost three, includ­ing 3–0 defeat to Sevil­la end­ing their Europa League campaign.

Mean­while, Unit­ed hope Rafael Varane qual­i­fies for the May 31 FA Cup final against cross-town rivals Man­ches­ter City.

The French­man has missed last three match­es and will miss at least until then but expect­ed to return for final game.

With Varane absent against Brighton, Luke Shaw play­ing cen­tral defense along­side Vic­tor Lin­de­lof, the Eng­lish defend­er artic­u­lat­ed Unit­ed must swift­ly rebound after Europa League exit in Spain.

‘I don’t think things will set­tle down’ With Shaw cen­tral along­side Lin­de­lof ver­sus Brighton, the Eng­lish defend­er stress­es Unit­ed must rapid­ly bounce back after Europa League exit in Spain.

“I don’t think this solves things but Cham­pi­ons League is essen­tial for us and Man­ches­ter der­by in FA Cup final unbe­liev­able game, so we can end sea­son on a high.”

“The big Europa League match, and of course this game, has defined our sea­son. If knocked out from both, as you say, the sea­son will [change].”