If there’s one player who deserves a rest after an extraordinarily exhausting season, it’s Bruno Fernandes. The Manchester United player played for the national team with 5739 minutes played in the 2022-2023 season. No one in world football has spent as much time on the field this season (between August 2022 and June 2023) as the captain of the Red Devilswho also leads in the total number of official matches: 67 and not counting the friendly match for the national team against Nigeria for the 2022 World Cup.
Only Lautaro Martínez approached the Portuguese. The Inter Milan striker reached 67 games in the Champions League final lost to Manchester City, but four of those were friendlies for the Argentina national team, who won the world championship in Qatar.
For Manchester United alone, Bruno Fernandes made 59 appearances, placing him among those who played the most games for a club worldwide. He was passed only by Alexander López and Freddy Góndola, who made 61 for Costa Rica’s Alajuelense to beat the Portuguese midfielder and also Frenchman Eduardo Camavinga, who also made 59 appearances for Real Madrid this season (albeit with a third of the minute). less in the field).
The Portugal international served as an example for the International Union of Professional Footballers (FIFPro) to draw attention to game overload and “the detrimental effects of calendar congestion on players’ health and well-being”. According to the June 8 report, Bruno Fernandes played 74% of games with less than five days off, 20 of them consecutive.
A reality since 2017-18. There have been six consecutive seasons in maximum rotation for the 28-year-old midfielder, who finished the season with just one trophy (English League Cup). “It was already like that when I was at Sporting. I was one of the first players in Portugal to play 56 games in a season (…). I can do it, I am physically capable. I don’t know if I have secrets, my parents will know, but they made me so that I can be available for any game.” said the player in April, when asked about the lack of rest.
The numbers are impressive and may even increase. The marathon runner has been called up for Portugal’s double effort – with Bosnia-Herzegovina (Saturday) and Iceland (Tuesday) – and can therefore play two more games before going on holiday. But even if it does, it won’t break his own record (72 in the 2020-21 season) nor the absolute maximum, achieved by Spain’s Pedri, who made 73 appearances in 2020-21.
From over 5 thousand minutes from Rui Patrício to 903 from Renato
In a season that saw him reach a European final for AS Roma (losing the Europa League final to Sevilla), Rui Patrício finished the season with 55 games in goal and more than five thousand minutes on the pitch (5010). The goalkeeper is the fourth in the Portuguese group with the most games and the second with the most minutes.
One of those with the most games in their legs is also the youngest in the Portuguese resort: António Silva, one of the highlights of Benfica’s good season, which ended with winning the championship, with Roger Schmidt’s contribution in 47 games. The 19-year-old center has 4252 minutes, surpassed only by Bruno Fernandes and Rui Patrício.
Champions League winners Rúben Dias and Bernardo Silva (and João Cancelo, who moved to Bayern in January) were the most successful of the season, both instrumental in winning Manchester City’s unprecedented treble. In fact, the central defender was the most used player throughout the Champions League, among the more than 450 footballers from the 32 teams that have participated since the group stage of the UEFA competition, but rested in the cups and thus ended the season with “only” 47 games and 3829 minutes on the field. Slightly below Bernardo Silva, who was used by Pep Guardiola in 63 games and 4115 minutes.
Pepe missed the first two qualifying matches for Euro 2024 through injury and will work for the first time under new coach Roberto Martínez. He arrives with 40 games under his belt… at the age of 40, but he continues to perform at a level that keeps him among the favorites of the national team. Whether he will occupy the spot he has held for ten years in the center of the national defense is a question for the coach to answer, not least because he has Rúben Dias, Gonçalo Inácio and António Silva and the new Toti Gomes .
Young Wolverhampton is the big surprise on the list, which also includes the return of Renato Sanches, the player with the shortest time on the field under 26 chosen. In a season in which he had several injury stops, the PSG midfielder is only good for 903 minutes.
Source: DN
