Bruno Fernandes has landed yet another UEFA Champion League League milestone with his assist for Manchester United's equalizer in Wednesday night's Champions League draw with Atletico Madrid. The 27-year-old Portuguese set up Anthony Elanga for his side's goal, breaking David Beckham's 24-year-old record to become the first player in the competition's history to assist in six consecutive appearances while playing for an English club.
In retrospect, it was a tale of two halves for the two teams involved. Although United sough to emulate the success of the three Premier League clubs in the first of their respective round of 16 tie, they hardly hit the ground running at Wanda Metropolitano. Atletico Madrid fairly dominated the first half of the clash and were duly reward with a goal before the break. Portuguese sensation and eventual Man of the Match Joao Felix broke the deadlock in the seventh minute by capitalizing on Harry Maguire's poor defending to head home the opener.
However, the break gave the visitors the opportunity to reassess their approach and eventually stepped up to get the upper hand. The breakthrough came in the 80th minute when substitute Elanga latched onto Bruno Fernandes' pass to blasted his shot across Jan Oblak into the bottom corner to cancel out Atletico's first half goal.
6 - Bruno Fernandes is the first player in Champions League history to assist in six consecutive appearances while playing for an English club, breaking the record held by David Beckham (for @ManUtd) since 1998. Creator. pic.twitter.com/y92qBMZas8
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 23, 2022
With the away goals rule scrapped in Europe, the tie is well in the balance as the two sides prepare for the second leg at Old Trafford scheduled for Tuesday, March 15.
