One of Bruno Fernandes’ best pals in football now stands in the way of his World Cup dream

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Bruno Fernandes and Portugal are preparing for the country’s decisive World Cup play-off final on Tuesday night.

Fernandes along with Manchester United teammates Cristiano Ronaldo and Diogo Dalot, beat Turkey 3-1 and are getting ready to face surprise package North Macedonia.

Portugal had expected to face Euro 2020 champions Italy in this fixture, but the Azzurri were defeated in a 1-0 home loss to North Macedonia on Thursday night.

Standing in Fernandes’ path is his former Sporting teammate Stefan Ristovski. The pair were close on and off the pitch and often talk on social media.

After Ristovski captained Sporting for the first time in August 2020, Fernandes was quoted sending a message to his ex-teammate via MaisFutebol: “I know how proud and excited you are for the opportunity to be captain of the club you love so much! I have never seen a foreigner so respectful and dedicated to our country and the club he represents. You deserved this and you deserve it even more.”

The next season after Ristovski was sold by Sporting to sign with Dinamo Zagreb, Fernandes had more kind comments to send to his former teammate, quoted by Desporto: “I’m sorry that your journey ended like this at the club where you always gave everything you had, where you always respected the values ​​that a club like Sporting Clube de Portugal demands. Hardworking, honest and always with an eye on the next!”

Ristovski has 75 international caps for North Macedonia and the right-back is the current captain of his side, who will go into Tuesday night’s game as underdogs.

Bleacher Report told how Ristovski had begged Fernandes to stay at Sporting in 2020 before his eventual move to Manchester United.

O Jogo wrote how Ristovski had written to Fernandes, “I’m waiting for you,” after the World Cup play-off was made, perhaps fancifully dreaming North Macedonia may make it past Italy. Now this is a reality, with one game separating the two teams from a place at Qatar 2022.

Fernandes and Ristovski have stayed silent towards each other since Thursday night’s games, in preparation for the pivotal fixture. Both will be devastated if their teams lose, and friendships will go out the window at kick-off in Porto on Tuesday.

Macedonia to fight their corner

Macedonia know they are underdogs heading into the game and the situation is a tag they are well used to. While Portugal lie in their path, they insist it is not personal.

Ezgjan Alioski was quoted by Record: “Ronaldo is a great player, who has been playing at the highest level for almost twenty years. We don’t want to spoil his career with an absence from the World Cup, but we really want to make our big dream come true. We all believe that we can do in Portugal what we we did in Italy.”

The fearlessness they have and the belief after their win against Italy makes them a dangerous opponent who Ronaldo, Fernandes and co cannot afford to underestimate.