Police are investigating a break-in at Bruno Fernandes’ house on Wednesday night in which “a number of items” have been stolen.

Cheshire Police confirmed to The Athletic in a statement that they had been called to an address after reports of “suspicious activity” from “three unknown men” at 8.30pm BST (3.30pm ET), shortly after full-time in Manchester United’s 4-1 Champions League loss to Como.

Fernandes, United’s captain, played the full match in Italy, which kicked off at 5.45pm BST.

“The caller reported three unknown men in the rear garden of a neighbouring property,” DI Dave Jarvis said in a statement to The Athletic. “Officers attended the scene and on arrival there was no trace of the suspects. However, officers discovered that there had been a burglary at the address and a number of items had been stolen.

“An investigation into the incident has been launched and enquiries are ongoing.”

Jarvis added that the investigation is in “its early stages at this time” and “we’re committed to doing all we can to trace the people responsible”.

United confirmed to The Athletic on Thursday that Fernandes’ family were also not in the house, and the club said the intruders were inside for less than five minutes before the police arrived.

United added they are supporting the midfielder and are hoping him and his family can maintain some privacy in this difficult time.

Fernandes has started every game for United this term after being the Premier League’s player of the year last season, having broken the competition’s assist record. After their seventh consecutive winless result last night, he appeared to question his team’s tactics by saying the side “have to be more brave”.

“I think sometimes we have to be more brave under pressure, take a risk of getting that press very high and making them uncomfortable, as they did to us,” the 32-year-old told UK broadcaster TNT Sports. “The centre-back was coming to mark me all the way into my own half. I think sometimes we had to do that as a team and we were not really able to do it.”