Fernandinho adamant he’s Mr Nice Guy

MANCHESTER CITY enforcer Fernandinho has pleaded his innocence after being branded the bad boy of English football.

That is after Manchester United legend Gary Neville pointed the finger at the Brazilian and claimed Fernandinho “makes 400 fouls a match.”

But City’s midfield marauder laughed off the allegations of being a “smiling assassin” and describes himself as a “nice guy”.

Fernandinho, 33, prefers to be labelled The Fixer in a role where he is picking up loose ends at the heart of the action.

He admitted he can fall foul of the law but he denies that he is the master of the dark arts as Neville suggests.

When told by the media he had been called the smiling assassin Fernandinho laughed and said: “Why? I’m a nice guy.

“I smile because I am a happy guy. Look, I have heard what has been said but most of the time I recover the ball without making a foul.

“Football is a contact sport. For me, it is normal. Sometimes you get players who are faster than you or who can trick you with some skill.

“Sometimes you make the foul. But I would say that in football contact is normal – especially in England.

“If the opponents break our lines and they are attacking our box, something has gone wrong and it is me who has to fix it.

“The fouls in football are normal. You have to do it sometimes. I try to win the ball high up the pitch to start attacks. And I know I have enough quality to play in a team which likes to play attacking football.

“It just isn’t me. When the other team has the ball we are all under instruction to win it back.”

City are still haunted by United spoiling their early title party when the Red Devils won 3-2 at The Etihad in April – the last league defeat suffered by Guardiola.

Fernandinho said: “We were only beaten twice in the Premier League so, of course, it hurt that we lost to United. But I don’t think you should talk about revenge in a derby.

“We had the chance to win the title against our biggest opponent and we missed it. That is in the past.”