
MANCHESTER, England — Ruben Amorim has said Manchester United “need to help” Bruno Fernandes win trophies after the Portuguese midfielder scored a hat trick to earn a place in the last eight of the Europa League.
Fernandes scored two penalties and a well-taken third as Amorim’s team won 4-1 on the night and 5-2 on aggregate to book a quarterfinal against Lyon next month. He has now been directly involved in 11 of United’s last 13 goals, scoring six in his last six games.
“We already spoke about Bruno a lot of times,” said Amorim.
“We know that sometimes he is frustrated. We know he wants to win so badly so when things are not going well, he is changing position going after the ball. Sometimes he needs to trust his teammates but when we need it, he is always there.
“He can bring the ball forward, he can score goals, he can defend. He is a perfect captain for our team and we need to help him win titles.”
It has been a positive week for United.
A creditable 1-1 draw with Arsenal on Sunday was followed on Tuesday with the club’s announcement of plans to build a new 100,000-capacity stadium.
The victory over Real Sociedad was one of the best performances under Amorim and keeps hopes alive of finishing the season with a trophy and Champions League qualification. “During the week we showed that we are ready for this kind of game,” said Amorim.
“Our exhibition against Arsenal was not beautiful but it helped us a lot to believe. Since the first minute we continue to believe we can go to the next stage.
“This week was a different week. We deal with problems of the present, we show the future. This game was really good for everybody in the club.”