#Qatar2022 | Bruno #Fernandes is one of #Portugal's draggers. His career started ten years ago, at @novarafootball. The story of his first year as a pro 👇🏻

Bruno Fernandes, the Portuguese star in Qatar who started from Novara: "Very shy, but how he kicked..."

Bruno Fernandes  is one of Portugal's drivers in the Qatar 2022 World Cup . The attacking midfielder born in 1994, in particular, scored a brace in the Lusitanians' 2-0 win against Uruguay, a victory that proved to be decisive for the passage of the round. A career, that of Bruno Fernandes, which owes a lot to Italy. In fact, the Manchester United attacking midfielder took his first steps in professional football ten years ago, in Serie B , precisely in Novara . At  gianlucadimarzio.com Francesco  Marianini , former partner of Fernandes at the time of Novara, told us about the genesis of the Portuguese star.

Fernandes' origins in Novara: "Very shy, but ready"

It was in a gray Piedmontese autumn ten years ago that Bruno Fernandes' career began. Novara, in the 2012-13 season, had just been relegated after only one season in Serie A and the young Bruno had just arrived from Boa Vista. One of the veterans of that dressing room, made up of various Rubino, Lisuzzo, Gonzalez, was Francesco Marianini . Born in 1979, Marianini, now president of Calci 2016, a club playing in the Tuscan first category, has 444 professional games behind him, including 128 in Novara, where he scored the Piedmontese's first goal in the return to Serie  A. com , Marianini recounted Bruno Fernandes' first year as a professional: "Bruno was very thin, much thinner than now, very shy, silent. He had just joined us from the Primavera."

Lean, long-haired, and shy: " Seeing him the first time you wouldn't have given him a penny, but as soon as he took the ball to his feet it was different ". A story not so distant from what Ancelotti did regarding the arrival of Kakà. " Despite Bruno's shyness, you could immediately glimpse his numbers - says Marianini - despite being just eighteen, he was a ready-made player . What impressed me was the way he kicked: right, left, very well with both feet. ready" .

Giacomo Gattuso the man of Bruno Fernandes' destiny

Bruno Fernandes' professional debut came on 3 November 2012, ten years ago, in the match between Novara and Cittadella. For Marianini, the man of Bruno Feranndes' destiny is Giacomo Gattuso . In fact, the former Como coach had coached Fernandes in the Primavera at the time and, once he was appointed ferryman following Tesser's sacking, he didn't hesitate to let him train with the big teams. " Gattuso arrived as a ferryman, as soon as he arrived he started making this boy from the Primavera train with us,  and it changed his career . Gattuso was probably in Bruno's destiny : without him he would have exploded anyway, but the journey would have been longer". 

The impact with Bruno Fernandes' Serie B was immediately important. After his debut with Gattuso, it was definitely with Aglietti that he launched. The coach born in the 1970s, in the match against Empoli on 26 January 2013, fielded the Portuguese as a starter, without taking him off. Marianini remembers this fact very well: " With Aglietti Bruno practically stole my place! The first few minutes he found them also because of some of my injuries. Then, once he entered the field, he started playing one game better than the other: it was impossible to take him away " . And in fact that Novara from the relegation zone reached the playoffs, finishing in the semifinals. Then the rest is known: Udinese, Sampdoria, Sporting Lisbon, United and now the World Cup...