A year ago
Despite having a terrible game against Sevilla, David de Gea was praised on Sunday as Manchester United advanced to the FA Cup final.
David de Gea received praise from Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag for coming back from a challenging game against Sevilla in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final victory over Brighton and Hove Albion.
In the 3-0 loss to Sevilla on Thursday, which guaranteed United's elimination from the Europa League at the quarterfinal stage, De Gea was generally held responsible for all three of Sevilla's goals.
But three days later, he produced a number of outstanding save to stop Brighton, which ultimately led to the game heading to penalties.
Despite the fact that De Gea was never especially close to any of Brighton's penalty penalties, United did advance to the final after winning 7-6. Solly March scored a goal before Victor Lindelof put an end to the Seagulls' chances.
Even while United's overall performance was not very impressive, there was a noticeable improvement from Thursday, notably De Gea.
Ten Hag remarked, "I think he had two amazing saves and know that he's a world-class goalie. He had a terrible day at work on Thursday, and it hurt.
"Really bad [day in the office] I've seen, but it's always when you're the keeper and you make mistakes, frequently you get penalized," the speaker said.
But that doesn't mean we have to fail. In addition, as a squad, we failed to stand up for him (against Sevilla) on Thursday.
"[Criticism] was justified on Thursday, but today the lads deserve praise and recognition for their resiliency and spirit.
"What we need to learn and improve—and this must be our next step—is how to bounce back from setbacks in games by being composed and doing so in the same game.
"We have to deal with setbacks and we can do it better, but in-between games, and it's not the first time, we do it very well."
The FA Cup championship game will feature the first-ever Manchester derby between Manchester City and United.
Although Ten Hag noted that United's 2-1 victory in the January derby as evidence that they can overcome Pep Guardiola's treble-chasing team, United will enter the match as significant underdogs.
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