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Manchester United star Bruno Fernandes has refuted Cristiano Ronaldo's statement that new coach Roberto Martinez has added a breath of fresh air to the Portugal national team.
Fernando Santos put an end to his eight-year tenure as the Selecao head coach after the team's exit from the FIFA World Cup in December last year. After considering several candidates, the Portuguese Football Association named Martinez as their new boss.
Portugal earned a 4-0 victory over Liechtenstein in their first game under Martinez last week. They followed it up with another thumping 6-0 win against Luxembourg on Sunday (March 26).
Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. have thus made a flying start to their lives under the Spanish tactician. The Al-Nassr superstar recently stated that the former Belgium head coach adds a breath of fresh air to the team.
Fernandes, though, has claimed that Selecao has never been in need of fresh air like his captain suggested. The Manchester United attacker added that he is aware that the national team is undergoing a transition.
"No, it's just a new coach with new ideas," Fernandes told Portuguese television channel RTP3 [via Yahoo! Sport]. "There is no breath of fresh air at all. It's just a transition period.
"The atmosphere in the national team has always been good. There's never been anything that wasn't fresh of the air, so I think it's just new dynamics, new coach, and you have to assimilate his ideas."
Fernandes provided further insight into the team's system under Martinez, saying [via Record]:
"Obviously it (the new system) is different, it has different dynamics. It is the individual ability of each of us to make a difference. Even today (Sunday; ed.) we saw: substitutions always make a difference. In the last game, they did and today again.
"We are a very complete selection and the coach knows that, he knows that he can change one, two, three, four, or five players and still the capacity or quality would be the same or better."
Portugal will now not be in action until the next international break in June.
Portugal teammates Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes shared dressing room at Manchester United
Cristiano Ronaldo has played 42 games together with Bruno Fernandes for Portugal. The two have even combined to bag four goals for the team.
However, it is worth noting that they previously shared a dressing room at Manchester United. They became teammates at club level after Cristiano Ronaldo joined the Red Devils for his second stint in 2021.
They played 51 games together for Manchester United and produced three joint-goal contributions.
