HAT WILL DO NICELY

Fantastic Fernandes bags stunning treble

- by DAVID MCDONNELL

AS bad as Manchester United are, it’s scary to think how much worse they would be without Bruno Fernandes.

Fernandes delivered yet again for United as he scored two penalties before hammering home a late third to complete his hat-trick and kept alive their hopes of silverware in this traumatic season.

Diogo Dalot’s injury-time fourth goal completed a decent night for United and set up a Europa League quarter-final against Lyon.

As for Fernandes, United's talismanic skipper is their top scorer this term with 15 goals and he also has 12 assists.

Take those 27 goals away and they would be out of Europe and probably fighting relegation.

He is one of United’s few stars exempt from Sir Jim Ratcliffe's charge of being “overpaid and not good enough”. At a time when Ratcliffe is cutting costs by sacking staff and doing away with free lunches, Fernandes earns his money.

This was a night when the result mattered way more than the performance and United will be glad to get the job done.