Bruno has history with Swansea boss Carlos Carvalhal.

The Portuguese coach indirectly sentenced Albion’s skipper to the most heart-breaking moment of his almost six years in England.

In return he was on the receiving end when Bruno enjoyed one of his sweetest afternoons in an Albion shirt – and certainly his best birthday.

Now Carvalhal comes to the Amex in charge of a buoyant Swansea side Bruno admits he thought were “half-dead” not too long ago.

But he will pose a different tactical test to the two-leg play-off against Sheffield Wednesday in May, 2016, which left Bruno flat out, face down and in tears on the turf.

Or, indeed, the following October 1 when Bruno turned 36 by leading Albion to their first ever win at Hillsborough.

Swansea are unbeaten in their last five Premier League games, a streak only Tottenham (nine games) can better.

But he is doing it in a different manner to how he guided Wednesday to the Championship play-off final two years ago.

Bruno told The Argus: “This is a very important game for us.

“Within the group we have been talking about this block of four games.

“That’s Southampton, West Ham, Stoke and now Swansea.

“We have got good points in the first three.

“We need to keep getting points to increase this gap over the last few places.

The Argus:

“Swansea have done well. At one stage I thought it was going to be very difficult for them to get out of it.

“But Carvalhal (above) has done a magnificent job. They are picking up impressive wins and he has changed their mentality. We hope when they come here they don’t have a good afternoon.

“I think it is hard to compare what he is doing now to when he was at Wednesday.

“He was used to playing a 4-4-2 but has changed to three centre-backs and it is working well. “I think he will continue like that.

“He is a coach who likes his team to take good care of the ball.

“But he is very clever. For him, you have to do the basics well.”

Albion fans would love a repeat of Carvalhal’s last visit to Falmer, when Anthony Knockaert’s double strike and David Stockdale’s double save helped them beat Wednesday 2-1.

So would Bruno. With one difference. He would rather be out there.

One of the factors which made that success so impressive was that Bruno was ruled out by a slight groin strain.

He had started all of the previous 73 league games.

Bruno had to watch from the sidelines, a culture shock at the time but something he has become more used to of late as Ezequiel Schelotto has enjoyed several starts.

The FA Cup tie against Coventry was a great chance to get 90 minutes of action and prove his fitness.

In perhaps a sign of the changing times, it was only his second FA Cup appearance out of 14 ties the club have played since he arrived.

Bruno said: “It’s an honour to play in this historic cup, with so much tradition.

“I enjoyed it and reaching the quarter-finals is really important.

“I’ve had a problem in the back which prevented me from playing and from training.

“It was the same problem as I had early in the season.

“When I improved physically I was back (on the bench) for West Ham and we won and that’s football.

“The manager kept faith in the team and I have to keep fighting and waiting for my chance.

“We have got the back more or less sorted. I feel better every day.

“I played 90 minutes and felt good.

“I have to measure my workload a bit but I feel good and I want to keep playing well.”

The great thing for Albion is that Bruno lost his place while still playing pretty well.

The Argus:

Schelotto had a breakthrough game as a wing-back against Chelsea and has remained in the side as part of back four.

Bruno said: “It has been very different to be on the bench but what I try to do is immerse myself in the game because I could go on at any moment.

“What I want is for us as the club, the team, to win games.

“That’s the most important – that we are in the Premier League.

“Your own personal interests take second place.”

Bruno has been impressed by the way Schelotto has settled into the Premier League.

He said: “He has been adapting very well to the football here because it is always different coming to England.

“He has had good games. When we played in that system of three at the back I thought he looked very used to it because he has played that way in Italy.

“It is hard to adapt tactically because football here is very different but he is an intelligent player.”