Bruno praises Pogba's impact against Tottenham

The home side took an undeserved lead after 27 minutes through Steven Bergwijn, but the Reds remained spirited and noticeably improved after the half-time break in North London. 

Pogba entered the action on 62 minutes to make his first appearance since Boxing Day and he made a vital contribution, by forcing Eric Dier to foul him inside the penalty area late on. That led to Bruno stepping up and dispatching a cool finish into the bottom corner on 81 minutes. 

“I think we did very well. It was a difficult game,” Fernandes told Sky Sports after the final whistle. “We started good with our ideas, but then they scored on the counter, but I think we were all the time in the game. We scored, we had a lot of chances to score more. It’s not enough for us, because we want to win every game, but still it is a good result. We are not happy but it is a good result.”

Bruno was voted our Man of the Match by Official App users with 55 per cent of the poll result, but he was quick to credit his French team-mate and what was also a promising team performance.

“Yeah, yeah, we're training hard in the past weeks,” Fernandes said. “When we were training in groups I was in the group with Paul, so to find the connection is easier. But I found a good connection with everyone and the most important thing is the team. 

“I think Paul thinks the same [as me] and we are happy. Paul won the penalty, I kicked it, so most importantly it is the team. It doesn't matter who scores, or the assist, or nothing. I think the more important is winning and is about the team.

“As a team we need to look for the Champions League. We need to try to be close to try to catch the guys who are up front. Unfortunately we are one point closer, but they need to play. We'll see.”

Of course, the match was played behind closed doors on Friday night and, without any crowd noise, that meant there was arguably less pressure on Fernandes as he took the crucial penalty late on. 

“I like the pressure, so maybe with the crowd it would have been better,” said Bruno. “But the most important thing is that I score. Next time maybe shoot another one. We have good penalty takers, we have a lot of players who can take a penalty. I trust in Rashy, like everyone trusts in me.”

Asked about an incident when VAR overruled the referee’s initial decision to award a second spot kick, Bruno explained his view: "I kicked the ball and after I kicked the ball I found his foot.

"I don't know if he put his foot there or not or if me after touching the ball I touched his foot. But it doesn't matter. VAR is here to help. If they think it is not a penalty we need to accept and nothing more.”

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