A picture of David de Gea looking at his water bottle during Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final penalty shoot-out shows what was written on his notes.
After enduring an evening to forget in Sevilla last week, the Spanish goalkeeper was back to his best against Brighton, pulling off a number of impressive saves in normal time to keep Erik ten Hag’s side in the tie.
The Spaniard, however, failed to save a single shot in the penalty shoot-out, despite having a detailed set of notes at his disposal.Alexis Mac Allister, Pascal Gross, Deniz Undav, Pervis Estupinan, Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster converted past United’s number one before Solly March blazed his spot-kick over the bar.
Two days after the final whistle and a picture is doing the rounds of the notes on David de Gea’s bottle.
As you can see in the image below, the detailed instructions state how high the penalty will be hit, as well as the side. We can only assume the player names were penned on the notes, as well.
This isn’t the first time De Gea has used notes to try and gain an advantage. Last year, during United’s Europa League final penalty shoot-out defeat, he brought a sheet containing all the key information on Villarreal’s penalty takers.In total, 21 penalties were scored consecutively by both teams before De Gea saw his effort saved by Geronimo Rulli.
The Spaniard has managed to save just 13 penalty kicks from a possible 72 – a record that has been criticised by fans of late.
One fan commented on his efforts against Brighton, saying: “De Gea just watching these penalties like us at home,” while another said: “The PTSD of that De Gea penalty miss v Villarreal is haunting me already.”A third added: “You’d think David de Gea would save a penalty every now and then wouldn’t you, if only by way of the law of averages.”
After the full-time whistle, De Gea said he was “prepared as always” and “tried to put pressure” on the Brighton penalty takers.
“It was a very tight game we played a very good team,” he said. “Brighton play really good football. We are now in the final but we have another big game on Thursday so we need to go home and recover.”They were great penalties. I was prepared as always. I tried to put pressure on the takers.”There’s still a long way to the final but it will be a big game against one of the best teams in Europe and the world. We showed at home we can beat them [Man City] so let’s hope. We are on the right track. One trophy, another final and fighting for the top four. It’s not enough but it’s a big step from last season.”
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