MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim appeared optimistic about the injuries to Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo though he confirmed both midfielders will miss Friday’s Premier League game against Newcastle.
Fernandes clutched his hamstring and sustained a soft tissue injury in United’s defeat by Aston Villa on Sunday, after which Amorim initially said he feared his captain would be out for “a while.”
However, ahead of the only Boxing Day game in the Premier League, Amorim softened his view on the extent of Fernandes’ injury and also that of the calf problem sustained by Mainoo, who missed the Villa match.
“Not for this game,” Amorim said Wednesday on the prospect of either player being available to face Newcastle at Old Trafford.
“They are recovering. I don’t think that is going to take a lot of time. I think Kobbie will return faster than Bruno.”
Asked for a timescale on Fernandes’ absence, Amorim added: “I don’t want to say, I have an idea but let’s see.”
The 31-year-old Portuguese playmaker has started every Premier League match this season and has been the most creative player in the league this season, creating 51 chances. Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku is his closest rival with less than 40. United has lost six and drawn one of the last seven matches Fernandes has not started.
“We need to take the good thing — if there is a good thing on that — that a lot of people need to step up and understand we cannot rely on one player for everything," Amorim said.
Amorim added: “I am confident we can win any game.”
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Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes, second right, attempts a shot towards goal during the Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Manchester United, in Birmingham, England, Sunday Dec. 21, 2025. (Jacob King/PA via AP)
MOSCOW (AP) — An explosion in Moscow on Wednesday killed three people, including two police officers, Russian investigators said, days after a car bomb killed a high-ranking general not far away.
The two traffic police officers were approaching a suspicious individual when a device detonated, Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement. The officers and another person standing nearby died from their injuries.
Investigators and forensic experts were at the scene, Petrenko said. Russian authorities did not comment on who may be behind the attack.
Russia's Interior Ministry named the officers as Lt. Ilya Klimanov, 24, who joined the Moscow police in October 2023, and Lt. Maxim Gorbunov, 25. Gorbunov had a wife and a 9-month-old daughter, the statement said.
The blast took place in the same area of the Russian capital where Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov was killed by a car bomb on Monday morning. Sarvarov was the head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff.
Investigators said Ukraine may have been behind the attack, which was the third such killing of a senior military officer in just over a year.
Since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine nearly four years ago, Russian authorities have blamed Kyiv for several assassinations of military officers and public figures in Russia. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some of them. It has not yet officially commented on either explosion.
Just over a year ago, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was also killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building. Kirillov’s assistant also died. Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for the attack.
This undated photo, distributed by official telegram channel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, shows official portraits of Russian police officers Lt. lya Klimanov and Lt. Maxim Gorbunov, who were killed in an explosion in Moscow, on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (Official telegram channel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia via AP)
Police block the road near the scene of a deadly explosion in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Police block the road near the scene of a deadly explosion in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Police block the road near the scene of a deadly explosion in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
Police block the road near the scene of a deadly explosion in Moscow, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)
