A dejected De Gea was forced to walk past the Europa League trophy to collect his runners-up medal David De Gea's woeful penalty recor...
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| A dejected De Gea was forced to walk past the Europa League trophy to collect his runners-up medal |
Paul Scholes scolded David de Gea's performance after Manchester United's penalty shoot-out loss to Villarreal in the Europa League final, and the Spaniard's record back-up Scholes' comments.
De Gea was once considered as the finest keeper in the world - alongside Bayern Munich's Manuel Neuer - however, he has since dropped out of that conversation.
And despite being a stellar shot-stopper, De Gea's penalty record has always left a lot to be desired.
The Spaniard has failed to stop any of the last 38 penalties he's faced, and he failed to stop any on Wednesday evening: a fact Scholes wasn't surprised by.
"Once you get to penalties, anything can happen, we know that. I always feel a little bit worried, being an Englishman, that we're going to be on the wrong side of it," the former United midfielder told BT Sport.
"But I have to say, David - we spoke about his record before it - he didn't look like saving a penalty. They got a little bit lucky with Luke Shaw's penalty as well.
And United boss, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, has admitted he considered substituting the keeper - who's last penalty save came against Romelu Lukaku back in 2016.
"You go through every scenario, of course," Solskjaer explained in his press conference. "And it had crossed my mind in the build-up to the game but we were confident in David and prepared."
Louis van Gaal famously subbed Jasper Cillessen for Tim Krul during the 2014 World Cup with penalties in mind.
Krul went onto save two penalties to see the Netherlands through to the next round.
De Gea's had a torrid time during the shoot-out; he failed to stop any of Villarreal's 11 spot-kicks, and it was his miss that gifted the Yellow Submarine their first European triumph.
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