Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said his team were feeling the effects of a busy schedule and explained that Bruno Fernandes needed a break after the Portugal international was left out of the starting lineup for Sunday’s 3-1 FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Leicester City.
Kelechi Iheanacho scored twice and Youri Tielemans added another as Brendan Rodgers’ side beat United to set up a semi-final clash with Southampton.
Fernandes, who been a standout performer for United with 23 goals and 13 assists in 45 games in all competitions, replaced Donny van der Beek in the 64th minute. Explaining the decision to leave Fernandes out of the starting 11, Solskjaer said the 26-year-old had played a lot of football this season.
“He’s also a human being, he’s played a game every three or four days really,” he said. “I know Bruno wants to play but sometimes you make decisions for the benefit of both the team and him.”
Solskjaer felt his team were still tired from Thursday night’s Europa League trip to AC Milan.
“We didn’t have the spark tonight and it’s understandable,” he told the BBC. “They’ve been unbelievable, the last three or four months, playing every three of four days, and it’s just caught up with us – all the games, all the travelling. Thursday night in Milan took a lot out of us, today we didn’t have that extra zip. We just didn’t have enough against a good team.”
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On the individual errors which contributed particularly to Leicester’s opening goal, Solskjaer added: “We win together and we lose together, we are not going to put blame on anyone.”
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