After Wednesday night’s 4-3 loss to Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in the UEFA Champions League, Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes stated that winger Facundo Pellistri deserved his starting position.
The Uruguayan was making just his second start for United, which was unfortunate given that they suffered their third straight loss across all competitions. His lone other start for the club came against Real Betis in the Europa League back in March. At the time, United had a 4-1 lead heading into the match after winning the first leg of the match in Manchester a week earlier.
Since the most recent international break, there have been an increasing number of people requesting that the manager, Erik ten Hag, give Pellistri his first start of the season. This is in response to the fact that Jadon Sancho and Antony have been ruled out due to off-field difficulties. The teenager got the game started in Munich on the right side, where he joined Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund in the оffensive onslaught.
The player had previously spent time on loan with Alaves, and he came close to putting United ahead in the first five minutes of the match from a few yards away. However, Bayern left back Alphonso Davies stole the ball from of his toes just as he appeared to be about to score United’s first goal. Even though he showed glimpses of his potential, he was not able to have as much of an impact on the game as he does when he is given the responsibility of having an impact on the proceedings from the bench.
In spite of this, Fernandes thought the teenager “did well” on his first meaningful start for the club, and he insisted that the youngster completely deserved the opportunity to try and impress Ten Hag.
“Pellistri is one of the players that deserves his chance,” Fernandes said. “I’m excited for him.” “He ought to get a lot of praise for all of the things that he has done to help the squad.
“He is someone who is always available, someone who trains hard all the time, and someone who deserves the opportunity that has been given to him. We are all pleased with him because he truly does merit the opportunities that have been presented to him, and he performed a good job today, doing the task that the management asked him to do.