Bruno Fernandes responds to Nemanja Matic’s training ground taunt

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If you thought Manchester United’s top star might be taking it easy in training this week, then you thought wrong.

Training sessions at Carrington appear as intense as ever ahead of the Europa League tie with LASK, despite most of the side which started the final Premier League game being expected to sit out, with United already 5-0 up.

After training on Sunday, Bruno Fernandes posted an image of his training group, with the caption ‘winning team’, on his Instagram page.

In a rare turn of events, Fernandes was not on the winning team on Monday’s session. This was something Nemanja Matic was quick to taunt him about.

Fernandes responded by joking he let Matic and Paul Pogba win, as they looked upset the previous day, before the Serbian threw down the gauntlet for another battle today.

Competitive edge is good to see

It may be preferable to see Fernandes, Matic, and Pogba have a complete rest this week, that is what we had anticipated after their heavy workloads in the Premier League, although they did get last week off.

Clearly they will play some role in the Europa League from the last eight onwards, and United are just keeping them fresh.

Fernandes has brought a competitive edge to United with him from Sporting, and the whole team was reinvigorated by his arrival.

This fighting spirit is evident from training sessions right through to matchday, and this helped United go on a 14 match Premier League unbeaten run to clinch a third placed finish.

The Europa League provides a good chance for United to add some silverware, and Matic, Pogba and Fernandes are just waiting to be called upon when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer decides they are needed.

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