Man Utd legend fired up players in the dressing room as Bruno Fernandes lifts lid after Coventry win

Man Utd legend fired up players in the dressing room as Bruno Fernandes lifts lid after Coventry win

WATCH NOW: Sports round-up as Man Utd beat Coventry in FA Cup clash

Jack Otway

By Jack Otway


Published: 22/04/2024

- 14:47

The Red Devils were poor during the fixture at Wembley and only reached the final via a dramatic penalty shootout

Manchester United legend Darren Fletcher fired up players in the dressing room prior to their FA Cup win over Coventry, according to Bruno Fernandes.

The Red Devils booked their place in next month's final, with the fallen giants set to face Manchester City at Wembley for the second year in a row.


United produced one of their most inconsistent performances under Erik ten Hag on Sunday as they battled their way through.

Goals from Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire and Fernandes had the Red Devils cruising.

Man Utd Bruno Fernandes Coventry

Man Utd star Bruno Fernandes has opened up after his side beat Coventry to reach the final of the FA Cup for the second year in a row

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But Coventry fought back to 3-3 before eventually losing on penalties.

Ben Sheaf and Callum O'Hare missed from 12 yards, with Andre Onana saving the latter's effort prior to Rasmus Hojlund netting the decisive spot-kick.

Speaking after the game, Fernandes has now revealed Fletcher inspired the players with a dressing room speech.

“We were told to believe we can get into the final," he revealed.

“It's about pride and getting into another FA Cup final.

“You don’t get here often. We had Fletch speaking before the game and he played in one of the best Manchester United teams in their history.

“He has been here three times at Wembley for the FA Cup. He played 12 years at the club.

“He was in the most successful period of the club and it shows how big it is to be in the FA Cup and how difficult it is."

Fernandes did admit, however, that United shouldn't be content with the way they performed.

“We have to be frustrated with the way the game ended up," he continued.

"At the same time we ended in the FA Cup final and hopefully we can do it differently to last season.”

With United only just scraping through, Erik ten Hag is under pressure.

Talk of Thomas Tuchel potentially replacing the Dutchman has arisen, while Roberto De Zerbi, Graham Potter and Zinedine Zidane have all been linked as well.

Fernandes has insisted that it isn't their job as players to worry about the future, however.

And he wants United to finish a turbulent season on a high.

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Bruno Fernandes Man Utd Coventry

Bruno Fernandes netted Man Utd's third goal in their narrow FA Cup victory over Coventry on Sunday

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“That doesn’t have to affect anyone because we must focus on everything we want to do this season," he continued.

“We still have chances to get into European positions in the league, we must finish as high as possible and have an FA Cup final to look forward to.

“It’s not our job to worry about these things that come from the outside or inside or whatever.

"We have the owners and directors to take care of that and it's about us performing on the pitch and giving our best.”

The Portugal international added: "We relaxed a little bit and didn't make the pressure as much as we should.

Man Utd Darren Fletcher

Man Utd legend Darren Fletcher fired up players prior to their nervy FA Cup win over Coventry

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"Then the game became more split and there were more spaces.

"Sometimes we had to get deeper and more compact to not give much space to them.

"We felt we could press them. We had good moments of pressure and they used some long balls and we had Harry Maguire and Casemiro winning a lot of duels for us.

"I think it was better for us to press high which we did. But they got lucky with some of their goals but we must give credit to them."

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