'I can't change people's opinions of me' - Fernandes in his own words

The Football Interview is a new series in which the biggest names in sport and entertainment join host Kelly Somers for bold and in-depth conversations about the nation's favourite sport. We'll explore mindset and motivation, and talk about defining moments, career highs and personal reflections. The Football Interview brings you the person behind the player.

Interviews will drop on Saturdays across BBC iPlayer, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport website. They will also run on BBC One on a Saturday after Match of the Day.

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Bruno Fernandes has been one of Manchester United's most consistent players since joining five years ago.

The 31-year-old Portugal midfielder is the Red Devils' captain and has scored 99 goals for the club.

He sat down with BBC Sport's Kelly Somers in April to discuss his family, his most influential manager and why people are entitled to their opinions on him.

Kelly Somers: Well, Bruno, describe to me a young Bruno. What were you like as a child?

Bruno Fernandes: A dreamer. Someone very passionate about everything I did. I kept a ball under my arm all the time. The kid that would love to be outside of my house, with my cousins, with his friends, not only to play football but to do anything that I could to enjoy my childhood. I was a very happy child.

Kelly: What is your standout childhood memory?

Bruno: I wouldn't say I have one, I have so many because I had very good moments as a child. Obviously for me playing football will always be the highest point in my youth. The thing of going to school with the ball while waiting for the bell to come on, to run into the pitch, to get to get there first. There are many, many, many good things that I have done in my childhood that I wouldn't say that I have a standout one.

Kelly: Do you remember the first team you played for?

Bruno: Yes - it was called Infesta. I went into there as a futsal player but I only got into one training session and they wanted me straight away with the older ones. I ended up playing with people two years older than me, because I was still very young to get into the leagues. It was a very good moment for me because I learned in adversity, being smaller, being less strong than them, and it made me more strong mentally to understand that you're going to have this kind of challenge through your life, and you just have to get through them.

Kelly: Who would you say had the biggest impact on your career?

Bruno: Obviously my family. My parents growing up, where they never let me think that I wouldn't be able to do something. And at the same time, they always kept me on the floor - like, don't think too high and never think too low. So, just put a line there, put your dreams above that, and then go for that.

And then my wife now, girlfriend at the time, she had a little bit of the same as my mum and my dad. She always kept me very low. She was always very supportive of me, but always, like, just be aware that things can go wrong. So just don't think too much ahead. Just think about the moment and what you want for the future, but make that the moment that will help you to achieve that in the future. As a family, we always had that from my childhood. And then going to pass that to my young kids now, it's amazing because the way I and my wife think is very similar. So together that was very good.

Then as manager I think [Francesco] Guidolin was the one that changed my career at Udinese because he was another one that made me play. He made me think about everything I had to do. He made me learn that to get into the top level you will have to suffer.

Kelly: You have one penalty to win the Champions League. Out of all the players that you've played with in your career, who would you pick to take it?

Bruno: That's easy. Cristiano [Ronaldo]. I think he's probably the person that most people in the world of football would choose. Just because of the way he dealt with moments of pressure, 20 years playing in the highest level and always providing year after year - the best numbers, the best levels and everything.

Kelly: Which retired player would you love to play against?

Bruno: I played against almost all my idols. I would say two - [Zinedine] Zidane and Ronaldinho. Ronaldinho was my first love in football, basically. He just made everyone enjoy football, love football. Like, it was so fun to watch him play, always with a smile on his face in everything he will do. So it was just pure joy. As a young player, that's what most of the times you wanted to see - him getting on the ball and being so effective in everything he would do, even at the same time being so nice, a lot of flair and everything. But he could do that and be effective at the same time. So it had everything. Unfortunately for most of my generation, he didn't play as long as we wanted to have him playing, because he was something special.

Kelly: What are you most proud of from your career so far?

Bruno: Everything, because I was a young kid full of dreams who never thought I would achieve as much as I have - because you never think about that. You just think about playing football. You think about enjoying yourself and playing as much as you can. When you're young, you just think about playing football. You see the television, you see the professionals, and think this is where I want to be. But my thought was just enjoy playing football and do it for the rest of my life. There is nothing else I know how to do, there's nothing else I want to do different to this. For me, football was always the main thing and will always be my main thing until the end of my days, not my career.

Kelly: What's the hardest thing to do on a football pitch?

Bruno: Being consistent, I think. During 90 minutes, you have to be so consistent in everything you do. Sometimes it slips away from you and it can change everything. So I think consistency in the first thing - consistent in doing whatever you think is the best for the team, because that has to come first of everything and you can't do anything without thinking of the team first. That's true in football, and it's what has to come above everything because there's nothing more important than the team.

And then it comes to yourself to put yourself in the best position to help the team. And when I'm on the pitch, that's the thing that I have most in my head - to do my things will help the team to become better so I have to. I have to be the most consistent and accurate player I can be in any moment of the game, not with the ball, but also without the ball, but also in some things that you have to say to your team-mates when you want to change something position-wise, changing set-pieces as to be accurate because if little things change, it can go against you.

Kelly: How would your best friend describe you?

Bruno: I don't know. You should ask him! Very passionate about everything I do. Everything I include myself in I just like to go with myself at full. I don't like doing things at half. Football was the main thing and I always wanted to go full for it. What you see on the pitch is what Bruno is like - the passion I put into everything. I am much more calm away from the pitch - I don't have the emotions on the skin as much as I have on the pitch. But still very passionate in everything I do.

Kelly: You said you're calmer off the pitch. When were you last nervous? Do you get nervous?

Bruno: A lot of times. The game against Wolves, I was on the bench but I think I get more nervous on the bench. I get more nervous being on the bench. Hopefully not many times I'll be on the bench. I get more nervous watching the game because I am suffering for my team-mates when you see something go against them and they're trying to make something different and it doesn't come. I get nervous and can't be steady on the bench or even at home if I have to stay and see the game at home. I can't be not loud. I need to be loud and active. It's like I'm in the game.

You need to use it energy-wise. The game against Lyon was probably the game I was most nervous until now. We knew how much it meant for us. Even before the game I was very nervous in the sense I couldn't wait for the game. It's that good nervous of we want things to come quick because we want to show we are able to do something good. That's the good thing of being nervous in a good way.

Kelly: How were you feeling during the game? It didn't go to plan to start with. Were you nervous at that point? Do you get nervous in games?

Bruno: No, never. During the games? No. Before the games I can get nervous. During the game I just think about the goal we have for the game which is to win. I remember every step that we have trained and that my team-mates have to do and I remember every position they have to do. When I go to a training session I focus not only on what I have to do but what is around me because it can change, I have to play a different position or a team-mate could not be aware of where he has to be or which position he should stay.

On set-pieces, I know exactly where everyone has to be. The only nervous thing is getting everything into my memory so I can remember in the game every step. Also, when I'm on the ball I know every movement my team-mates have to do. To be aware of, 'I'm on the ball here so this is what we trained' - but you have to think that in a split second. It gets automatic because I think about that during the week until the game. When you think so many times about something your muscle memory works by itself.

Kelly: If you could wear an invisibility cloak for the day so nobody could see you, what would you do?

Bruno: I would go with my kids wherever they wanted to go. Sometimes it is very tough to go with my kids at certain points. They're very aware of people asking for photos and stuff and they already know when someone asks me for photos they just go apart - the older one gets the smaller one, she grabs him and stands looking at me like, 'take the photo'. I would like to go places where I was going as a young kid, with them, without them needing to stop all the time and just enjoy the time with them.

I'd go to a beach in Portugal to try to enjoy as much as I can with them. I still do it. I'm not a person who gets annoyed when people are asking for photos. I get more annoyed at people trying to take photos of you while you're doing something with your kids. I don't mind people asking for photos. It's one of the good things of our work - getting recognised. In a few years' time we won't get recognised that much so we will be fine.

I'm a person who does what any other person does in a normal life. If someone catches me doing something and puts it in the newspaper, I won't mind. I was just enjoying the moment and being happy with my kids doing anything in any place. Even if I have to do something with my friends I won't mind people taking photos. They can stop wasting their time taking photos thinking they are going to make big news. I'm just a normal person living a normal life.

Kelly: How would your kids describe you?

Bruno: That's more difficult. Very tough on them. Nowadays we make things easier for the kids. As a parent, I obviously do it. I look back when I was a kid and most of the things my mother and father did to me I was seeing as a punishment. Now I see it was something to make me see 'why is the reason for that?' and nowadays sometimes I make things too easy for them, but I try to make it as tough for them to understand things don't come easily as often as we want or any time we want.

Every time they want something for themselves, they have to earn them. As a father, a little bit tough on them but I have a very soft heart. It's too easy for them to get on to my soft side because I'm a very soft person even if it doesn't look like it on the pitch.

Kelly: What is the one thing people get wrong about you?

Bruno: Nothing. People have an opinion about me and I can't change that. That's the way people want to judge you about what they see on the pitch or the television or interviews. I can't change that. They have the freedom to think the way they want about me as I have the freedom to think about them. I don't judge people until I know them. They can have an opinion about me, that's fine - we all have an opinion and that's why life is so good and so different. If we all think the same way it would be so boring.

Source: BBC
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