Roy Keane appears to have hit back at Bruno Fernandes with a cryptic Instagram post as the war of words between the Manchester United legend and the club’s skipper intensifies.
Keane, who has criticised the Portuguese numerous times in the past, shared an image of a donkey appearing to roar, with a pair of lions visible behind it.
Roy Keane appears to have hit back at Bruno Fernandes
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Keane posted on Instagram a photo of a donkey appearing to roar with a caption, saying: ‘Too much attention makes a donkey think he’s a lion’
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INSTAGRAM/OFFICIALKEANE16
The dispute stems from comments Keane made on The Overlap podcast, where he accused Fernandes of admitting he prioritised chasing the assists record over what was best for the team.
However, this interpretation appears to have been based on a misunderstanding of what the midfielder had actually said.
Following United’s match against Nottingham Forest on May 17, Fernandes had been critical of his own performance, suggesting he should have passed on occasions when he chose to shoot instead.
Keane took this statement and claimed the playmaker had confessed to passing when he should have shot purely to accumulate assists.
Keane labelled the scenes around Fernandes’ record pursuit a ‘circus act’
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The ex-United midfielder said: “How can your mindset be not to win the match but be about an individual record?
“He won’t be winning trophies with that mindset.”
Keane also labelled the scenes around Fernandes’ record pursuit a “circus act”.
However, Fernandes insists the criticism was based on comments he never actually made.
Fernandes accused the former Manchester United captain of lying
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Fernandes said: “I’ve always said I don’t mind criticism. I always take criticism from everyone and anyone and never reply to anyone whatsoever. People have an opinion, they think it’s good, bad or whatever.
“What I don’t like is when people lie about things, and in this case, what you said about Roy Keane, basically, what he said is a lie.
“Luckily for me everything is on record, imagine if it wasn’t, then people will think Bruno is always the guy trying to go for the assist.
‘I’ve always showed a lot of respect for Roy Keane and for everything he’s done for the club and everything he’s always said. I’ve never said something wrong.”
Bruno Fernandes broke the Premier League assist record on Sunday
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The dramatic row erupted despite Fernandes enjoying one of the best individual seasons of his career.
The Portugal international claimed his 21st assist of the campaign during Sunday’s 3-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion to officially break the Premier League single-season assist record.
Fernandes also insisted his approach to football has never changed and denied accusations that he was chasing statistics.
He said: “My number creations is always the same. It’s not that I’ve been trying to reach the assists now, no, I’ve been creating chances since I came to the Premier League. My type of play hasn’t changed.”
