Premier League: Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandez explains "disastrous" penalty kick

In the second round of the Premier League, Manchester United draw with Fulham 1-1, Red Devils midfielder Bruno Fernandez missed a penalty. After the game, he explained that the referee's interference was an important reason for his miss. In the first half of the game, Manchester United got a penalty kick. When Bruno was preparing to take the penalty, he collided with referee Chris Cavana. Bruno believes that the referee only informed him that the ball needed to be placed again when he was about to run, which caused his rhythm to be disrupted and his waiting time was too long, which affected his psychological state. In the end, he failed to control his technical movements when taking the penalty, kicked the ball away with one kick, and the ball crossed the crossbar.

After the game, Bruno said in an interview with Sky Sports: "I feel very frustrated. As a penalty kicker on the team, I have a fixed set of preparation habits and procedures. The interference from the referee made me unable to perform at my own pace. What made me even more dissatisfied was that he did not apologize for it afterwards. Of course, I had to take responsibility - it was indeed a bad shot, my support foot was too low, which caused the hit point to be too high, and the ball flew out."

Manchester United coach Ruben Amorin also spoke to the BBC after the game and talked about the penalty mistake: "We missed a penalty opportunity in the first half. Bruno bears tremendous responsibility and pressure, and I can feel the heavy weight in his heart after the loss. But we must let go of the past and keep moving forward."

Despite Bruno's penalty, Manchester United took the lead by Fulham player Rodrigo Moonis in the 53rd minute. However, the team failed to defend the victory. In the 73rd minute, Fulham midfielder Emil Smith Rowe equalized the score, and the two sides finally shook hands 1-1.

At this point, Manchester United has not won the first two rounds of the Premier League in 2025/26, and the team's condition and morale need to be improved urgently.