Manchester United are nicely positioned to progress in the Champions League after a gritty performance at Sevilla on Wednesday night.

It was a showing that simply oozed Jose Mourinho with the Portuguese setting up his team to resist the plucky Spaniards. The game finished goalless at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium but, by all accounts, there is great confidence around United as they return to Old Trafford.

Nevertheless, there were certainly shaky moments for the Red Devils who had to call upon the omnipotent David de Gea to spare their occasional blushes.

The 27-year-old produced a remarkable save to deny Luis Muriel from close range, thwarting the Colombian with a brilliant reflex stop. De Gea also saved superbly from Steven Nzonzi in the opening exchanges.

Naturally, his stellar performance and clean sheet brought about the latest round of praise for a man who has seemingly been in a league of his own over the last four seasons.

'Outright the best goalkeeper in the world'

There were few surprises when the BT Sport panel waxed lyrical about the United number one and no more so than Rio Ferdinand who proclaimed De Gea as the world's finest. You've got to say, it's difficult to argue otherwise. 

"Outright the best goalkeeper in the world. Time and time again, he produces saves like that," he extolled.

"But the great goalkeepers don't need to make a save every ten minutes, he could be called upon once in a game and he will be there. It's that concentration at the top level and he has that in abundance."

How differently things could have been, though. When De Gea first joined United, doubts were as prevalent as mistakes would come to be and even the United dressing room were skeptical.

The Man Utd dressing room's reaction to his arrival

Ferdinand revealed: "When he first come we were sitting there - even the players - in the dressing room, with doubts.

"Young kid just coming in through the doors at Manchester United - we need to win every year and how are we going to do that with a young kid, with no experience and looks like he's lacking confidence?

"To be fair, Steely - who brought him in - believed in him and the gaffer followed that through and where his today, that's a sign of someone who works hard and gets what they need to get."

In an epoch of utter dominance at United, it is perhaps understandable that replacing Edwin van der Sar with a 20-year-old raised a few eyebrows.

The suspicions of Eric Steele, however, turned out be a stroke of genius. 

Do you think David de Gea is the best goalkeeper in the world? Have your say in the comments section below.