Cristiano Ronaldo was originally supposed to be take the penalty vs Manchester United vs Aston Villa but Bruno Fernandes overruled manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær, reports claim.
United were awarded a spot-kick in stoppage time but surprisingly Fernandes spurned the chance to level matters after smashing his effort into the Stretford End.
It was the first time the former Sporting CP midfielder had missed the target in his whole career, with Fernandes normally uber reliable from the spot.
Full of confidence, Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez appeared to throw Fernandes off his game by urging Ronaldo to take the penalty.
The miss led to Fernandes releasing a detailed apology message and according to journalist Duncan Castles, that statement was put out due to Ronaldo actually being the allocated taker for the 1-0 defeat.
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“Very interesting interaction between the Aston Villa goalkeeper, the penalty kick specialist, Emiliano Martinez, and Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo," Castles said on Reach PLC's Transfer Window Podcast.
“One of the things the goalkeeper used to try to put Bruno Fernandes off was to say to Cristiano Ronaldo, ‘you should be taking this penalty’. And it turns out he was right.
"Information I have is that going into that game against Aston Villa, Cristiano Ronaldo was the designated penalty taker for Manchester United.
"He should’ve taken the penalty at the key moment in the game, instead Bruno Fernandes took it upon himself to take it and ultimately miss it.
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"I think from that information you can probably see why he made such an act of apology in putting out a seven paragraph social media mea culpa over that miss."
In total, Fernandes has a 91% success rate from the spot after missing just four of his 46 taken, with Ronaldo having taken 167 and scored 139.
Solskjaer refused to confirm who was the taker vs Villa, but a few days later Fernandes revealed he was still on penalty duties against Villarreal.
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"I was on penalties [against Villarreal] but we didn’t get one,” he told BT Sport.
“The manager will decide before the game who takes it.”
Five-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo is still firmly first choice spot-kick taker for his country and scored a hat-trick, including two penalties, in the 5-0 thumping of Luxembourg on Tuesday.
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Fernandes was also on the scoresheet at the Estadio Algarve.
United return to action with a trip away to Leicester City on Saturday and look to get back to winning ways.
Featured Image Credit: Image: PATopics: Bruno Fernandes, Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
