Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes extended his excellent form ahead of Euro 2024 in yet another fine performance for Portugal as they beat Ireland 3-0.

In the first eighteen minutes of play, Joao Felix opened the score, sending Portugal ahead. Felix’s initial goal came off an assist from Fernandes.

In the 50th minute, the 39-year-old collected the ball on the right side before cutting in, throwing in some stepovers and unleashing an unstoppable effort into the top-left corner of the Ireland goal.

It was a goal reminiscent of the long-range strikes Ronaldo produced earlier in his career, as the veteran proved that he’s still just as lethal in-front of goal.

He then doubled his tally for the evening by scoring another left-footed effort, which sailed into the top-right corner after the 39-year-old was picked out inside the box.

A fluid counter-attack from Portugal saw the ball land at Ronaldo’s feet and he made no mistake in smashing his effort into the back of the Ireland net.

Earlier in the game, Ronaldo had struck the post with a long-range free-kick that had looked destined to nestle in the back of the net.

His two strikes against Ireland see Ronaldo take his international goal tally up to 131 and his overall career tally up to a staggering 896 goals.

Fernandes played all 90 minutes of the action.

During the time he was on the pitch, the playmaking midfielder registered 90 touches of the ball and successfully delivered 69 of the 74 passes he attempted, managing an individual pass completion rate of 93%.

Six of Fernandes’ passes were key passes.

He tried to find a Selecao teammate with five crosses and three long balls. He found his intended target with one of his crosses and two of the three long balls he pinged.

The 29-year-old created one big chance and had two shots to his name. One was on-target while the other didn’t require Caoimhin Kelleher in the Ireland net to swing into action.

The United skipper embarked on three dribbles but completed just one of them. He delved into three ground duels and came out on top on just one occasion.

Fernandes shared the pitch with United teammate Diogo Dalot, who featured for just 45 minutes before he was replaced by Nelson Semedo. Roberto Martinez made the same personnel change in Portugal’s prior match vs. Croatia and it may be indicative of the fact that he has not settled on a guaranteed starting right-back for Euro 2024.

Dalot touched the ball 41 times and delivered 33 of the 34 passes he tried – a pass accuracy of 97%. One of his passes was a key pass.

The United defender won half of his contests on the ground. He also put in one tackle.

All attention for Fernandes, Dalot and their international teammates now shifts to their opening group clash of Euro 2024 against Czechia in a week’s time.