Bruno Fernandes vs Cristiano Ronaldo: Whose Man Utd volley was better?
Everyone loves a good volley. It’s one of the toughest skills in football to pull off which is why they really grab the attention of fans when a proper strike is executed.
Manchester United have a long history of players capable of scoring superb volleys that live long in the memory and one such strike was recently scored by Bruno Fernandes against Burnley in the Premier League.
It immediately drew comparisons with an effort Cristiano Ronaldo netted against Tottenham in the 2021/22 season when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was still in charge of the club.
Here’s a look at both goals as we attempt to decide whose was more impressive.
With the pressure mounting on manager Solskjaer at the time, Man Utd really needed a win at Tottenham back in October 2021.
Thankfully for the Red Devils, Ronaldo inspired his out-of-form outfit with the first goal of the night and later provided an assist. Marcus Rashford and Edinson Cavani also got on the scoresheet, but it was CR7’s goal which makes this game memorable.
Fernandes, in possession around 30 yards from goal, lofted the ball over the Tottenham defence towards the far post where Ronaldo had made a run. The Portuguese forward met the ball close to the six-yard line and his first-time finish found the bottom corner.
It was a superb showing of technique and sent Man Utd on their way towards a very important win, although it didn’t change the course of the season as Solskjaer lost his job before the calendar year was out.
Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo on the volley 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/Y8pnvPpUY9
— Premier League (@premierleague) September 26, 2023
The most recent impressive volley in Man Utd history, Fernandes is a player with bags of skill and technique and showed that in the win at Burnley.
United again found themselves in desperate need of a result. They had lost three games in a row but their own loss of form was little compared to Burnley’s struggles, with the Clarets going into the match with just one league point from their four previous fixtures. The Red Devils may have only won 1-0 but it was a deserved victory and a much better performance for Erik ten Hag’s side.
The assist came from an unlikely source with United struggling to create many clear-cut chances.
Man Utd were struggling to create many clear-cut chances and the assist came from an unlikely source. Jonny Evans, on his 200th appearance for the club, produced a cross-field pass just inside Burnley’s half Luka Modric would have been proud of.
Fernandes ghosted in behind the Burnley defence and hit the ball on the volley from about eight yards out. The angle from behind the goal shows the superb swerve the finish had.
We have decided Fernandes gets the nod for this one, although it’s very hard to pick flaws in either of the goals.
The deciding factors are the pass coming from much further away for Fernandes‘ volley, meaning he had much longer to wait before he could unleash the finish. He is also slightly further out than Ronaldo was and the connection looks to be slightly cleaner.