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27th Jun 2016

David De Gea is taking stick again for his role in Italy’s opener

Simon Lloyd

Until last week, David De Gea was widely regarded as one of the finest goalkeeper’s 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 sixteen 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…

https://twitter.com/AlexSamSmith/status/747468342789873664

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.