MANCHESTER UNITED legend Roy Keane has slammed Bruno Fernandes’ body language and admitted he was not surprised to see him benched for Portugal.
The United ace started his country’s first two Euro 2020 matches but was subsequently dropped for their clashes with France and Belgium.
Fernando Santos’ decision to relegate the former Sporting Lisbon man to the bench stunned many – but not Keane.
Ahead of Belgium’s 1-0 win that sent defending champions Portugal packing, Keane was asked if he was baffled by Fernandes’ omission and replied: “No, [I’m] not really [surprised] because of the other options.
“He’s not really been in top form in the tournament.
“His body language is not great and he’s not performed.
“The beauty of it for the manager is you like at the Portuguese players and the options he’s got.
“The plus for Portugal so far is they’ve scored seven goals but they’ve conceded six.
“The worry for Portugal with the way they play, and particularly for the attacking players, if this turns into a shoot out I think they’ll suffer today.
“But no surprise with the changes he’s made.”
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Portugal’s defence of their European trophy came to an end courtesy of a 1-0 defeat to the Red Devils.
Thorgan Hazard struck the winner just before half-time to send Roberto Martinez’s men into the quarter-finals.
The goal came after a nice bit of trickery from Belgium stopper Thibaut Courtois, who left five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo red-faced.
Portugal’s talisman was skinned by the Real Madrid stopper as he tried to put him under pressure.
And that moment of skill proved to be the catalyst for Hazard’s wonderful strike from outside the box, which flew past a despairing Rui Patricio.
Victory over the Portuguese has teed up a quarter-final clash with the high-flying Italy, who booked their place in the last eight on Saturday with a 2-1 victory over Austria.
After the match, Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen said: “In the first half we were playing high and putting pressure on Portugal, but looking at that second half, we are lucky to win.
“Portugal made it really hard for us. We had to really stay focused.
“It has cost us a lot of energy, but we have some time to recover and now we are looking forward to the game against Italy.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
