Portugal cruised to a 3-1 Nations League victory over Poland, with Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes shining as the star player.

The assist for Portugal’s first goal came from Fernandes, who headed the ball for Bernardo Silva, who wasted no time putting it in the back of the net.

Cristiano Ronaldo, a legend at United, would later knock in a close-range goal to increase the Selecao’s lead.

Jan Bednarek’s own goal in the 94th minute put an end to any possibility of a miraculous comeback by Poland.

In Portugal’s midfield trio, which also included Silva of Manchester City and Ruben Neves of Al Hilal, Fernandes played a supporting role.

Maxi Oyedele, a former United teammate and graduate of the Carrington academy, who had just called up to the Polish national team, was an interesting opponent for Fernandes.

Oyedele, who departed Old Trafford during the summer, played for 66 minutes before being substituted by Jakub Moder.

Throughout his stint on the field, Fernandes received 62 touches and completed 38 out of 44 passes (or 86% of his attempts) to find his teammates. He completed four crucial passes.

The creator made multiple attempts to find the target with long balls and crosses. None of his attempts were successful, so this is definitely a statistic he wants to work on.

One great opportunity was presented by the United captain. It was unfortunate that he did not find the back of the net after being a danger inside the penalty area. A total of four shots were credited to Fernandes. Lukasz Skorupski didn’t have to make a save on two of them, while the other two were on target.

With the exception of his one attempt at an aerial challenge, Fernandes was victorious in five of his seven ground duels. Along with making four tackles, he also cleared the air once and intercepted a pass.

It is fantastic to see the 29-year-old making an impact again after going through a tough start to the season with United. He recently admitted fault for his struggles on the club level and promised to do all in his power to get back on track. He got off to a strong start with his effort against Poland.

Diogo Dalot was another Manchester United great who suited up for Portugal. Four passes were cleared by the fullback, two were intercepted, and he made one tackle.

Dalot only managed to emerge victorious from one of his two ground duels.

He had 77 touches on the ball and completed 57% of his 62 passes. There were two crucial passes among these. The United defender hit the mark with his shot as well.

The data was sourced from Sofascore.

Next up for Portugal is a Tuesday match versus Scotland at Hampden Park.