Manchester United icon Roy Keane has seemingly changed his opinion on Bruno Fernandes following the midfielder’s outstanding display for Portugal in their 5-0 victory over Uzbekistan.

Fernandes was instrumental in guiding Portugal to a comprehensive win in their second group stage match of the 2026 World Cup. The Manchester United captain produced a brilliant performance, highlighted by his assist for Cristiano Ronaldo’s second goal. Charging from deep inside his own half during a counter-attack, Fernandes assessed his options before threading a perfectly weighted ball through to Ronaldo, who finished with trademark precision.

With this result, Fernandes and his Portuguese teammates have secured their place in the next round of the tournament, successfully overcoming their sluggish start against DR Congo in the opening match.

Earlier this month, Keane revealed that he had a “lovely chat” with Fernandes after the two were involved in a public disagreement concerning the Premier League assist record.

The disagreement began when Keane suggested that Fernandes was too focused on his assist statistics during Manchester United’s win over Nottingham Forest. The former United captain even accused the midfielder of admitting that he opted to pass rather than shoot in order to boost his assist tally and break the record.

Keane admitted that he was left “raging” and “cringing” at what he witnessed in that match.

Fernandes responded strongly to Keane’s remarks, disputing the claims and revealing that he had made an effort to get in touch with Keane personally to discuss the matter. He managed to obtain Keane’s private phone number to express his dissatisfaction with how he had been portrayed.

Keane later opened up about their conversation on the Stick to Football podcast. The 54-year-old said, “No, there was a reaction after what we said on the podcast a few weeks ago, and he reached out to me and wanted a chat… I called him and we had a lovely chat.”

He continued, “A lovely chat about a bit of everything, but it was nice because when we do podcasts or games, sometimes you think you say something afterwards and it doesn’t come across properly, so people get upset, and he said he wanted to talk to me.”

“And we had a nice, mature conversation. It was lovely. A lovely chat. I like having boundaries with players.”

Having once criticised Fernandes for being overly focused on creating chances for teammates, Keane has now completely changed his stance and is full of praise for that very quality.

Speaking on ITV, Keane lauded Fernandes’ vision and precision in transitional play, even going so far as to declare him the best in the world at picking out the right pass.

Keane said of Fernandes, “He is by far the best player in the world at that!”

Portugal will next be in action in the early hours of Sunday morning when they face Colombia in their final group stage fixture.