Roy Keane fires back at Bruno Fernandes with ‘donkey’ message in row | Football | Sport
Roy Keane has brutally fired back at Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes with a pointed social media post. The former Reds midfielder appears to have labelled Fernandes a “donkey” in his scathing assessment of the Portugal international. Fernandes has enjoyed a stellar season at Old Trafford, setting a single-season Premier League assist record with 21.
Yet the Portuguese captain has faced scrutiny, with United legend Keane branding him the centrepiece of a “circus act” following their 3-2 victory over Nottingham Forest on the penultimate weekend of the campaign. Fernandes made his frustration towards Keane’s remarks abundantly clear on The Diary Of A CEO podcast, released on Monday, accusing the Irishman of “lying”.
He said: “Like I’ve always said, I don’t mind criticism. I’ve always taken criticism from everyone and anyone and I never reply to anything or whatsoever.
“People have an opinion; they think it’s good, bad, whatever. What I don’t like is when people lie about things and [in] this case that you said about Roy Keane basically what he said is a lie because… either he saw some other interview or he can’t say that I said one thing that I’ve just not said and luckily for me is everything on record.
“I accept his criticism, I accept that he might like me as a player or not, like me as a person or not. But what I don’t like is that he puts words in my mouth that have not been said. That’s the only thing I don’t like.”
Keane appears to have taken another swipe at Fernandes with a cryptic post on his Instagram story. The 54-year-old shared an image of a donkey with two lions looming in the background.
The post features a straightforward caption which states: “Too much attention makes a donkey think he’s a lion.”
Speaking previously on The Overlap podcast, the former Ireland international said: “After the [Forest] game he got interviewed and he said, the captain of Manchester United said: ‘A few times, I probably should have shot but I made them passes.’ Wow. How can your mindset of a footballer be going into a match to be about an individual record?
“He won’t be winning trophies, not with that mindset of the team.” Fernandes’ actual post-match comments were: “There were probably moments today when I should have passed instead of shot. I’m very happy for the assist, but more than that, I’m happy for the win and to finish the season on a high.”
It appears that former United captain Keane misinterpreted Fernandes’ comments rather than seeking to distort the truth. Nonetheless, a war of words now threatens to break out between two of the Reds’ best midfielders of all time.
