Until last week, David De Gea was widely regarded as one of the finest goalkeepers on the planet.
But having been blamed for Ivan Perisic’s late winner against Croatia last week, it seems the general consensus on the Manchester United stopper is shifting a little.
Vincente Del Bosque kept faith in De Gea and gave him the nod to start against Italy. In the early minutes of the last 16 clash he seemed vindicated as the 24-year-old pulled off a couple of smart saves.
But with just over half an hour played, Italy went in front.
A free-kick was saved by De Gea, but he failed to parry the ball away from danger. Having attempted to poke the ball away with his foot, the ball was bundled into the Spanish goal by Giorgio Chiellini.
Yet again, this was (to some at least) more evidence that De Gea had been conning us all over the last three years or so and was actually crap…
Oohh bit of a howler there from De Gea. Got to hold that #ItalySpain
— Bendrix 🦁 (@Benjmeister85) June 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/AlexSamSmith/status/747468342789873664
De gea should be holding that or palming it wide. Poor goalkeeping
— Liam (@HutchieGlee) June 27, 2016
Poor keeping from De Gea! Italy well deserved lead at HT #EURO2016 #ITAESP
— GregCumine (@gregcumine) June 27, 2016
Dear Mister De Gea!
That's a mistake
— Jan Aage Fjørtoft 🇳🇴 (@JanAageFjortoft) June 27, 2016
A rare De Gea mistake. Also lucky Chiellini got to the rebound otherwise it's a penalty and probably a red card for De Gea.
— James Dall (@JamesDall_) June 27, 2016
That said, De Gea responded by pulling off another couple of saves before the half was over. If it weren’t for him, it could’ve been far, far worse for the defending European champions.
