B.Fernandes reveals the surprise player who helped improve his penalty technique

Bruno Fernandes has revealed which player has influenced the penalty technique who helped him to make the top spot-kick-Toning of Manchester United.

The Portuguese midfielder has etched his name in the history books of United by successfully converting 36 of his first 40 penalties for the club.

No other player has scored no fewer than 30 penalties for United, with Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney second and third on the list of 28 and 27 respectively.

Fernandes has a remarkable coolness of the place. Many assume that this is partly due to the influence of Cristiano Ronaldo – scorer of 173 penalties from 204 efforts in his senior career and with whom Fernandes has been a teammate at both club and international level during his career.

But, perhaps surprisingly, Fernandes recently credited the former Sampdoria striker Fabio Quagliarella by refining the way he reads keepers.

With Inside United, Fernandes expressed: 'Many of the penalty branches have a side and go there. They choose the side rather, they become powerful and everything, and they still score. I don't know, this was always something that I learned from Quagliarella when I was in Sampdoria. '

In addition to Italian forward quagliarella, Fernandes played during a seasonal spell in Sampdoria in 2016-17.

While the two differed in technology – in which Quagliarella often opted for thunderous strikes – it was the mental side of his teammate who hit Fernandes.

The captain of the United added: 'He was always checking with the keepers, what he had to do, the way he kicked and everything because he naturally had a fast run -up and had a very powerful shot. But he always tried to understand the movements of the keeper and everything and I got that from him. '

Quagliarella, now 41, enjoyed a legendary Serie A career at clubs such as Juventus, Napoli and Udinese, but it was during his twilight in Sampdoria that his influence rushed to a young Fernandes.

He withdrew in playing in 2023 after scoring more than 200 goals in football, as well as eight in 28 performances for the national team.