Bruno Fernandes remembers that Fernando Santos put Portugal “at the top of Europe”
A starter in four of the five games played by the ‘quinas’ team at the 2022 Mundial, the 28-year-old player claimed to have lived “moments of glory and joy and others of sadness and sadness” with Fernando Santos at the “helm”, without forgetting the “history ” that the coach did, for taking Portugal to the first two official titles, in Euro2016 and in the 2019 League of Nations, proved in which he played.
“Many thanks to Mr. Fernando Santos. Thank you for the opportunity to represent our country and for the trust placed in recent years. As a Portuguese, thank you for placing Portugal at the top of Europe and restoring confidence and belief to a ‘small’ country that was possible to be among the ‘greats'”, wrote the Manchester United midfielder on his official page on the social network Instagram.
International on 53 occasions, with 13 goals scored, Bruno Fernandes also referred that Fernando Santos, whose departure from the national team was announced today by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), will have “forever marked his name in the hearts of all Portuguese”.
Since 2014 in the Portuguese national team, Fernando Santos, 68 years old, has given the first two international trophies at senior level to Portugal and, in 109 games, has managed 67 wins, 23 draws and 19 defeats, the last of which against Morocco, by 1 -0, in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Soccer World Cup.
Santos also took Portugal to the 2020 European Championship and the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, falling in both competitions in the round of 16, before the elimination in Qatar, against Morocco, on Saturday.
Fernando Santos joined the Portuguese national team in 2014, replacing Paulo Bento, after early elimination in the group stage of the 2014 World Cup, in which the ‘engineer’ had coached Greece.