The Portuguese made his first appearance in pre-season in a comfortable 4-0 win against Everton on Saturday afternoon, scoring a wonderful free-kick in a rampant first half for the Reds.
A 55,000-strong crowd at Old Trafford reserved special adulation for Fernandes, who, it’s worth remembering, only had two months at the start of his United career to experience full capacity crowds in England.
The rain came down in sheets, but the 26-year-old was delighted to be able to share that connection with United’s support again.
“It’s different when we have the fans back,” he told MUTV’s Stewart Gardner, “the feeling after scoring a goal, the shouting of the fans, everything, it’s really nice to have them back and we know they can give us confidence sometimes to do a little bit more and a little bit better.