Roy Keane takes aim at Bruno Fernandes again with ‘donkey’ dig at Man Utd star

Captains past and present have been in the thick of it (Picture: Getty)

Roy Keane has continued his war of words with Bruno Fernandes with a thinly-veiled dig at the Manchester United captain on social media.

Fernandes, was broke the all-time Premier League assists record on the final day of the season against Brighton, took aim at Keane this week, accusing him of peddling ‘unacceptable lies’ about him.

Those comments came after Keane called Fernandes ‘a circus act’, suggesting he is too focused on chasing individual glory earlier this month.  

‘He said in his interview, the captain of Man United, he said there was a few times I should have shot but I made the passes. Wow. How can your mindset of a footballer be talking about individual records?’ Keane said on The Overlap last week following United’s 3-2 victory over Nottingham Forest.

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Fernandes has in fact said ‘’there was probably moments today that I should have passed instead of shoot,’ and blasted the former Republic of Ireland international during an appearance on The Diary of a CEO podcast.

‘People have an opinion, they think it’s good, bad, whatever. And, in this case, what Roy Keane said is a lie. Luckily for me, everything is recorded.

‘Imagine if it wasn’t. People will think, “Bruno is the guy always trying to get the assist”. I accept his criticism, I accept that he might like me as a player or not, like me as a person or not.

Fernandes ended the season on Sunday with a goal and another assist (Picture: Getty)

‘But what I don’t like is that he puts words in my mouth that have not been said, that’s the only thing I don’t like.’

Keane took aim again on Monday evening with an Instagram post that appeared to be a direct response to Fernandes’ criticism.

(Credits: Anthony Mogan)

Sharing an image of a donkey in the spotlight on a stage with two lions in the shadows in the background, the post was captioned: ‘Too much attention makes a donkey this he’s a lion.’

Roy Keane vs Bruno Fernandes - how it started

What Keane accused Fernandes of saying

‘The whole chat about his assists and players talking about his assists. He got interviewed after the match and the game was about his assists. He said in his interview, the captain of Man United, he said there was a few times I should have shot but I made the passes. Wow. How can your mindset of a footballer be talking about individual records?

‘For it to become the main point of Man United’s performance at the weekend, I was cringing with all of them. All the players when he got the assists, going over to him, what about the guy who scored the goal?’

He won’t be winning trophies, not with that mindset of the team yesterday where they’re giving up two goals and everyone’s getting all giddy because he’s equalled a record for assists,’ he said. ‘It’s mind-boggling. It’s mind-boggling. It’s a circus act.’

What Fernandes actually said

‘”‘There were probably moments today when I should have passed instead of shot. I’m very happy for the assist, but more than that, I’m happy for the win and to finish the season on a high.’

Keane’s criticism of Fernandes came just as the Portugal international was being crowned player of the season having led United to a third-place finish and Champions League qualification.

In his interview with Steven Barlett, Fernandes also revealed he has asked for United boss Ole Gunnar Soskjaer, a former teammate of Keane’s, for the former skipper’s phone number in order to talk things through in private.

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