Roberto Martínez on man-of-the-moment Bruno Fernandes

Portugal coach Roberto Martínez was asked by PortuGOAL journalist Matthew Marshall about Bruno Fernandes’ star performance in the 3-0 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina in Lisbon tonight, in the post-match press conference.

The Spanish coach was only too happy to elaborate on the midfielder who has arguably taken over from Cristiano Ronaldo in recent times as Portugal’s key player. 

"Bruno Fernandes has the highest football intelligence. He makes other players better."

Bruno has been on fire for Portugal under new coach Roberto Martínez. Here is the Spaniard explaining Bruno's performance tonight in answer to Matthew Marshall's (@noobzcorp) question. pic.twitter.com/J8eg81nLX1

— Tom Kundert (@PortuGoal1) June 17, 2023

“When Bruno Fernandes arrived at the training camp he was the player who probably had more minutes than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues: 6,400 minutes. You can think: should we be worried? Should we be aware? And the reality is he is a player who wants to play. We always ask the player about the number of games they have played, and I can tell you he is the perfect example of players who love playing games – what they don’t like as much is to train, that’s clear! But to play games is enjoyable. He plays with a smile. 

Related: Bruno Fernandes on fire as Portugal beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 3-0 in Lisbon

“He’s very intelligent. Every pass, every touch, has got a thought behind it, and his understanding with other players creates ways of penetrating that are very difficult to defend against.

“Today we were finding it difficult to get that penetration and I think Bruno Fernandes in a higher position and having a bit more of play longer from central areas, that was the reason to move Bruno Fernandes, and being able to be the first one to apply pressure, and give us a bit more strength in that central area with Rúben Neves. Bosnia needed to come back into the game so they were looking for combinations with Panjic centrally especially and it was an area we had to block.

“To answer your question, I think the intelligence of Bruno Fernandes is of the highest, highest level – the football intelligence that he has. I don’t think it is a doubt that he makes players around him better.”