Bruno Fernandes praises Atletico’s Joao Felix before facing him

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Bruno Fernandes will come up against his Portuguese international teammate Joao Felix when Atletico Madrid take on Manchester United.

Felix has already sung the praises of the United playmaker in the build-up to the tie, with the first leg of course set to kick off tomorrow night in Madrid.

Fernandes joined his manager Ralf Rangnick at the pre-match press conference ahead of the game and was asked about Felix.

Spanish outlet Marca translated his quotes, which made it clear just how good Bruno thinks the 22-year-old forward is.

“I don’t know what the problem is, I know that Joao has a lot of quality and great potential, he’s very young,” said Fernandes when asked about Felix, who has just four goals in all competitions ahead of the United clash.

“Sometimes we forget his age and don’t understand that he’s in a growth phase. When Atlético bought him he had barely done six months at Benfica, it shows the quality of the player, because not many clubs can afford that, and there were several clubs interested.

“His quality has to be used for the team. We all know what Diego Simeone is asking for, but he can also defend. I think he needs freedom, but I can’t comment much on that. From what I saw at Benfica, he’s a player who can reach a level that few others can. He has all the possible qualities to reach it.

“He will do it at Atlético or elsewhere. I don’t speak about football with him. I don’t think that among us players we should talk about football. He’s a very good guy and has a lot of quality. At Atlético or elsewhere, he will succeed because of the good head he has on his shoulders.”

Felix is one of a number of threatening forwards United could face tomorrow night, as well as Antoine Griezmann and Luis Suarez.

He could potentially put himself in the shop window with a big performance over the two legs here and he was actually linked with United in 2019 before joining Atletico.

United signed Bruno from Sporting in January 2020 and these are the big games that the Portuguese playmaker likely came to Old Trafford to play in.

If Bruno can outshine his international teammate, that would give United a springboard to getting a positive result in a hostile atmosphere tomorrow night.