Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes had his house burgled while playing in his club’s defeat against Como in Italy on Wednesday night.
The Portuguese midfielder’s luxury Cheshire home in Nether Alderley was targeted by thieves at around 8.30pm – just as United were getting taken apart in their calamitous 4-1 Champions League loss.
A source told Daily Mail Sport that the 32-year-old’s family were not at the property and that the thieves were thought to have been in and out in about five minutes.
A spokesperson for Cheshire Police said: ‘At around 8.30pm on Wednesday 21 October, police were called to reports of suspicious activity at an address in the Alderley Park area of Nether Alderley.
‘The caller reported three unknown men in the rear garden of a neighbouring property. Officers attended the scene and on arrival there was no trace of the suspects.
‘However, officers discovered that there had been a burglary at the address and a number of items had been stolen.’
Police are reviewing CCTV from surrounding properties in an effort to hunt down the gang.
Fernandes had his house burgled while he was on duty for Man United at Como on Wednesday
Bruno Fernandes pictured at home with his wife Ana Pinho. The pair have two young children
Fernandes came in for criticism after the game against Cesc Fabregas’ team for his apparent criticism of manager Michael Carrick and his coaching staff.
A week after Lisandro Martinez had taken aim at his Old Trafford bosses – and director of football Jason Wilcox in particular – Fernandes broke ranks to question why United were so passive again.
He said: ‘It’s a decision from the staff to not press man to man and sometimes leave space behind and try to get the ball, wait for them, but sometimes when you give space to these teams they get confidence.’
Asked if he meant that Carrick got his tactics wrong, Fernandes added: ‘That’s on the manager and staff to say, not me.
‘Sometimes you have to be more brave under pressure, take the risk of pressing high and making them uncomfortable. As you saw with Como, the centre back was coming to mark me in my own half. We need to do that as a team but we were unable to.
‘A team that plays through the middle with small connections, if you give them too much time and space then they can hurt you out wide.’
Having conceded to Atletico after 50 seconds last week, United were behind within two minutes as Como star Nico Paz struck the first of his two goals.
‘It’s not the first time, we started on the wrong foot, and they scored very early,’ said Fernandes. ‘Not much pressure on the ball, not many good movements with the ball, not many things going our way.
‘Conceding early makes us go into game with a mood of defeat, it’s difficult to get out of that, trying to be brave, to have the ball and make something happen. If we are not able to do that, it is going to be very difficult to get out of this situation.’
Fernandes is under contract until next summer with an option to extend until 2028.
