---
title: "Bruno Fernandes reveals the thinking behind his most productive skill"
canonical: "https://readmanutd.com/2026/09/04/bruno-fernandes-ipswich-penalty-process/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Shumail Sajid"
section: "Man Utd News"
published: "2026-09-04T13:30:00Z"
modified: "2026-10-10T21:45:08Z"
---

# Bruno Fernandes reveals the thinking behind his most productive skill

**Bruno Fernandes has explained the thinking behind his penalty against Ipswich Town and revealed how much work goes into his decisions from 12 yards.**

The [Manchester United](https://readmanutd.com/tag/manchester-united/) captain converted from the spot during the 5-2 win. [Bruno Fernandes](https://readmanutd.com/tag/bruno-fernandes/) scored an emphatic hat-trick as he guided Manchester United to a crucial [5-2 win over Ipswich Town](https://readmanutd.com/2026/08/30/man-utd-5-2-ipswich-bruno-fernandes-hat-trick-inspires-emphatic-comeback/). United had to respond after an embarrassing opening day defeat to Hull City away from home, and Bruno delivered.

Bruno Fernandes’s second goal came from the spot, but there was more to the finish than simply picking a corner and hitting it. Bruno Fernandes said he had already spoken to the goalkeeper coach about the Ipswich goalkeeper before taking the kick.

As Fernandes walked towards the ball, the goalkeeper was trying to distract him.

“He \[the goalkeeper\] was waiting as the referee told me to put the ball down, and he was still trying to make eye contact with me and try to smile and everything. And then he ended up being more on his right side of the goal. I never look at the goalkeeper in the first instance,” [Bruno said while talking on the latest Inside Carrington series](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B05yBwPn5r0).

## Bruno Fernandes had already studied the goalkeeper

Rather than focusing on the goalkeeper himself, Fernandes prefers to get information beforehand. He explained that he regularly speaks with the goalkeeper’s coach to understand what might be difficult for the opposition player.

“I speak always with the goalkeepers coach for him to make me understand what’s the most difficult thing that this goalkeeper could get, because they see the penalties, and he said, ‘Look, he’s very tall. It’s very difficult for him to just go when you kick the ball, even being tall, to react to that’. So he needs to sort of like have movement on himself.”

That information played a part in what happened next.

“So when I did, when I did that and I went to do the jump, he was running into the middle and he was stuck on his left foot. So basically he couldn’t get back there \[to his right side\].”

Bruno Fernandes said he does not always use the same method. Sometimes he simply chooses a side and commits to it. But he believes the approach he used against Ipswich gives him a better chance of scoring.

“Sometimes I just choose a side and I go and I don’t do the jump and I just choose a side. But I think I have more success doing this than just choosing a side and going.”

## Fernandes enjoys proving his penalty critics wrong

The United captain has never hidden how much he enjoys taking penalties, particularly because of the criticism that can come with scoring them.

“I like to score penalties because people always moan about me scoring penalties, so I like to make them moan about it!”

His record speaks to his confidence as well. Fernandes has scored 68 penalties from 76 penalty kicks across his professional career, giving him a success rate of roughly 89 per cent.

That record explains why he remains so comfortable taking responsibility in those moments. There is preparation involved definitely, but Fernandes trusts his own reading of the situation once he stands over the ball as his most important tool.

Against Ipswich, that confidence helped him beat the goalkeeper again.