Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag has showered praise on the club’s captain Bruno Fernandes. The Portuguese midfielder was frustrated during their ignominious 7-0 loss against Liverpool at Anfield, which is their joint-worse loss in the history of the Premier League

Fernandes pushed the assistant referee in the 81st minute of play and he received a lot of criticism for his actions. The Dutchman confirmed that Fernandes will remain the club’s leader despite him coming under scrutiny.

“He is playing a brilliant season,” said Ten Hag as quoted by BBC.

“He has played a big role in us being where we are. Everyone makes mistakes and we learn. I have to learn and he will as well.

“He is intelligent. I’m really pleased he is our player and he is captain when Harry (Maguire) is not playing.”

On the other hand, Gary Neville had lashed out at Bruno Fernandes for his antics on the pitch, calling them embarrassing.

However, Manchester United’s striker Marcus Rashford put his weight behind Fernandes after their 7-0 loss against the Reds.

“I love playing with Bruno,” he said. “I don’t have anything negative to say.

“Nobody is perfect. Sometimes you want to win so bad you end up doing things a little out of character. But I 100% support Bruno and am behind him.

“As a team, we have to support him because he’s a fantastic player. We wouldn’t be in the position we are in if he wasn’t playing games for us.”

“We were unorganized – yes. Communication was bad – yes. That’s why we conceded the goals,” he said.

“It comes down to the fact that I believe everyone was trying to get back into the game that much we came away from the team’s principles, in and out of possession.”

Manchester United will now face Real Betis in the Round of 16 first leg of the Europa League on Thursday night.