Bruno Fernandes transformation laid bare as Juan Mata sends five-word message to Man United star

Former Manchester United star Juan Mata reminded Bruno Fernandes of his transformation with a simple social media post.

The United captain turned 30 on Sunday and reached a landmark of 600 appearances for club and country. To mark the occasion, he scored one of Portugal's goals in their 2-1 Nations League win over Scotland.

"I had no idea [about it being his 600th appearance]," he told Portuguese media after the game. "It was [goalkeeper] Rui Silva who told me this morning. It's a nice number, I hope to increase it.

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"Not that playing a lot of games is the best thing in the world, for me it's because I love playing football and representing the national team has a special flavour."

Taking to his Instagram story, Mata posted a picture of Fernandes from his youth days at ADR Pasteleira, a club based in Porto. He wrote (translated): "Happiness Bruno, I miss you."

The Portuguese midfielder joined Pasteleira at the age of 11 and had three different spells with the club between 2005 and 2010. Fernandes later moved to Italy and played for Udinese and Sampdoria before being picked up by Sporting at the age of 23.

Mata meanwhile, shared the dressing room with Fernandes for two seasons at Old Trafford before joining Galatasaray, two years ago. The Spaniard, who spent eight seasons at the club, ranking up 285 appearances between 2014 and 2022, is currently playing for Western Sydney Wanderers.