Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has viciously slammed David de Gea for his ‘criminal’ approach before Justin Kluivert scored RB Leipzig’s third, which proved be decisive in the Red Devils’ 3-2 defeat.
Scholes believes that De Gea ‘bottled it’ as the ‘scared’ Spaniard ‘turned his back away’ when the cross rolled into the middle of the box before Kluivert lobbed the ball into the back of the net.
One of United’s greatest ever players added that De Gea actually made himself ‘smaller’ as opposed to bigger in the situation, which ultimately proved to be costly.
It’s worth noting that the legendary former midfielder also blasted Harry Maguire for his role in the ball even making it across the box, labelling the club captain ‘wooden’ and ‘very stiff’.
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"He bottled it. He was scared of getting himself hurt."
"He makes himself smaller, it's criminal."
Paul Scholes was not impressed with David De Gea's goalkeeping for RB Leipzig's third goal. pic.twitter.com/Iyd7GKZlBr
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“But David de Gea here, he bottles it, (Lineker: “He shies away from it a little bit Paul?”) basically he’s scared of getting himself hurt.
“It should never go across the box like that, Harry Maguire looks wooden, he’s very stiff.”
“And De Gea, as a goalkeeper, he comes out, make yourself as big as you can – you might get smashed in the face, you might get injured, but he turned his back away – he actually makes himself smaller.”
“Which is criminal for such an experienced goalkeeper, its criminal.”
It will be interesting to see how Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and De Gea react to this moment, especially as the No.1 has hurt himself whilst making saves recently, which could’ve been a factor in his decision.
Following this, is it absolutely unquestionable that England international Dean Henderson should start between the sticks in United’s mammoth Premier League tie against rivals Manchester City?