Ronaldo blamed for Fernandes penalty miss despite Solskjaer claim

Cristiano Ronaldo has been blamed as the main reason that Bruno Fernandes missed his penalty against Aston Villa, in the final stages of their 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford.

The 36-year-old re-signed on Deadline Day this summer after 12 years away from the club, and with Fernandes being Manchester United's undisputed penalty taker, there was a lot of speculation as to whether Ronaldo would take over the responsibility.

Our questions were finally answered on Saturday, as Fernandes stepped up ahead of Ronaldo in an attempt to salvage a point for his side, but sensationally smashed it well over the bar damning United to a disappointing defeat.

However, it is Ronaldo who has been blamed for the miss.

Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United took their penalty ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo ( Image:

Getty Images)

Ronaldo has been well known for taking penalties throughout his career, and has been the main man for Real Madrid, Juventus and the Portuguese national team over his prestigious career.

Therefore, the decision to keep Fernandes on penalty duty has been slammed by former Premier League winner Tim Sherwood, who accused Ronaldo of pressurising his Portuguese compatriot, affecting his usual judgement.

Sherwood said on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday: "You don't miss that Jeff, you never see him blast it over the crossbar, he normally waits for the goalkeeper to go down and rolls it into the other corner.

"It's the pressure, the main man is here. It's distorted his thinking, he's got one chance, one chance only and we've seen it gone there."

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Cristiano Ronaldo has been blamed by Tim Sherwood for the penalty miss ( Image:

Credit - Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)

After the spot kick was awarded there was a lot of commotion in the Villa penalty area, which led to a long pause before Fernandes stepped up to take the penalty, with opposing goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez even taunting the Portuguese star and suggesting that Ronaldo should be taking the kick.

However, despite Sherwood's claims, United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has dismissed any claims that Ronaldo was at any fault for the penalty miss, and suggested that Fernandes will remain the club penalty taker.

Solskjaer said: "Bruno's normally very good in those positions but unfortunately missed this one.

"They didn't get into Bruno's head. He's very strong mentally. He'll step forward again."

Both Ronaldo and Fernandes have also been battling for other set pieces since the pair stepped onto the Old Trafford turf together, but with little to show for it as United have now lost three of their last four games in all competitions.

Fernandes has a brilliant record from the spot and it was likely to just be a bad day at the office, but should the Portuguese star miss another, Ronaldo will surely takw over responsibility.