Bruno Fernandes Issues Strong Response to Roy Keane: "What He Said Is a Lie"
Bruno Fernandes continued his impressive season for Manchester United by breaking the club's Premier League assists record during the final weeks of the 2025-26 campaign.
The Portuguese midfielder first matched the record previously held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne during United's clash with Nottingham Forest, which later led to criticism from former captain Roy Keane.
Fernandes, 31, then officially broke the record on the final day of the season after providing the cross for Patrick Dorgu's headed goal against Brighton for his 21st assist of the campaign.
After the match against Nottingham Forest, Keane had criticised Bruno Fernandes, arguing that the midfielder appeared too concerned with personal statistics rather than leading the team forward collectively.
"When you're the captain of a club and are supposed to be driving the club forward, do not be getting bogged down by just your role in the team, just assists."
The former United captain also took issue with Fernandes' post-match interview comments.
"What I heard from United at the weekend I was raging about it. The whole chat about his assists. After the game he got interviewed and he said in his interview, the captain of Man Utd, he said: ‘yeah a few times I probably should have shot but I made them passes'... wow."
"How can your mindset of a footballer be going to a match talking about individual records?" He asked regarding Fernandes' mentality.
However, Keane had incorrectly quoted Fernandes, who had actually said he took shots at times when he should have passed to a teammate.
Bruno Fernandes Hits Back at Roy Keane
The midfielder later responded to the criticism in ‘The Diary of a CEO podcast' and insisted he has never had a problem with honest opinions about his performances.
"I don't mind criticism. I always take criticism from everyone and anyone, and I never reply to anything whatsoever. People have an opinion, they think it's good, bad, whatever."
Fernandes, however, said he felt Keane's comments crossed the line because they misrepresented what he had said.
"What I don't like is when people lie about things. And in this case... basically, what he said is a lie. And luckily for me, it's everything on record."
Fernandes added that false claims can shape unfair opinions about him among supporters and pundits.
"Imagine if it wasn't. Then people will think like, 'oh yeah, Bruno is the guy always trying to go with the assist'."
The Manchester United captain also revealed that he contacted former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær to get Keane's number and address the issue directly.
"What I don't like is when people lie about things, and in this case, what you said about Roy Keane, basically, what he said is a lie."
— Steven Bartlett (@StevenBartlett) May 25, 2026
Bruno Fernandes responds to Roy Keane pic.twitter.com/v5BItxAlhL
"I even asked Ole [Solskjær] for his number to text him, to be honest, to have a word with him, to say, that I don't mind the criticism, I don't like when people lie about things that I say."
"Because this is like, goes a little bit over the top of the things that I think are acceptable."
Bruno Fernandes now holds the all-time record for the most assists in a single Premier League season, registering 21 assists during the 2025–26 campaign.
Copyright 2026 Athlon Sports. All rights reserved.
This story was originally published May 25, 2026 at 6:03 AM.