Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes said it is not the players’ fault for the contracts signed off by the club as he hit back at claims by co-owner Jim Ratcliffe that some are “overpaid”. Fernandes was singled out for praise by Ratcliffe, who also said some of the United squad were “not good enough” in a range of media interviews this week. The United captain led by example by scoring a hat-trick in Thursday’s 4-1 win over Real Sociedad to book a place in the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

He then defended his teammates after Ratcliffe singled out the signings of Casemiro, Rasmus Hojlund and Andre Onana as examples of expensive deals made before he arrived at the club, which United are still paying for. “We can’t relax at this club. You know that there’s a big standard, a big attention that you get from the media, from everywhere,” said Fernandes.