Bruno Fernandes reacted to Man Utd’s important 2-1 victory against Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

11:12, 01 Dec 2025Updated 12:10, 01 Dec 2025

Fernandes assisted both goals.(Image: MUTV)

Bruno Fernandes was delighted to see Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez make his first appearance for nine months against Crystal Palace after recovering from a knee injury.

Martinez replaced Luke Shaw in the 82nd minute at Selhurst Park and his introduction was greeted by loud cheers from the away section. The defender has been on a long road to recovery since picking up an anterior cruciate ligament injury at the beginning of February, and he was congratulated by his teammates at full-time.

Ruben Amorim has previously said that United were missing Martinez “a lot” due to his “aggression” and presence in the dressing room, adding: “We need Licha in this team.”

Fernandes spoke to MUTV after securing a 2-1 win against Palace and he was asked about Martinez’s return, saying: “It’s very important to have him back, it’s such a long spell that he was out, even for himself, it’s great to be back with the team to have this feeling of playing games again.

“We know how much he struggled being out without being able to play for us. He’s back and one more option to have such big quality in the team, so we’re very happy with it.”

Martinez returned to full training at Carrington at the end of October, but he was not ready to feature in matchday squads against Nottingham Forest and Tottenham in the Premier League.

Lionel Scaloni did not name Martinez in Argentina’s squad for the November internationals, but the 27-year-old linked up with his national side in a training camp in Europe to build fitness.

Fernandes went on to praise Joshua Zirkzee after the Palace win. “It’s important for every player to score,” he said. “Strikers want to score goals, want to have their chances, but it’s not only about that, Josh gives very different things to the team when he doesn’t score.

“We’re very happy because we know how much of a boost of confidence it will give him to try more and get more chances to shoot, because he’s very capable of it.”

He added about the team’s performance: “It was massive. We needed the three points after the performance and the result we had last week. We needed a response very quickly. I think the first half was not great for us, but the second half was a very big response.”