David de Gea endured one of the toughest moments of his career on Friday night.The Manchester United and Spain superstar, who is widely recognised as the world’s best goalkeeper right now, made a calamitous error which gifted Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo his second goal of the night.De Gea was uncharacteristically shaky for much of the evening, as the two Iberian rivals played out a thrilling 3-3 draw, although he could do little to prevent either of Ronaldo’s other two goals.It was his error for Portugal’s second goal on the stroke of half-time which stunned football fans across the world.Ronaldo struck the ball from outside of the box and De Gea made a meal of what should have been a routine stop. The ball somehow squirmed from his grasp and ended up in the back of the net."I was late to put my knee down and the ball was screwed up, but I haven't killed anyone," he told the assembled press, per Marca, after the match. ”The coach is with me, with all of the team, I'm calm. It's a mistake that can happen, a difficult ball."I'll keep training and doing things well, we have an important game against Iran and if we win it will be an important step to qualification. In the end we've drawn, not lost, the reaction was great. There it is, it's happened."
What Mourinho has said about De Gea
Perhaps the only Portuguese native who will have felt a little sorry for De Gea after his mistake is his manager at club level, Jose Mourinho.
The United boss was analysing the game for RT and gave his honest reaction to De Gea’s poor performance after the full-time whistle.
“It’s my boy, it hurts me to say but he knows it’s a bad mistake,” Mourinho was quoted as saying by the Press Association’s chief football writer Simon Peach. “It’s a mistake he doesn’t make with us, United - player of the season, fantastic performances. But that happens to the best.
“The good thing with the best is that in the next match he will be there - not afraid, confident to go and ready to help his team. It is a goal with David’s face.”
Touch of class
Well said, Jose.
Mourinho’s words are bound to mean a lot to De Gea, who will be mightily relieved that his error didn’t end up costing Spain all three points.
La Roja play Iran on Wednesday night in their second group match.
They then face Morocco on June 25.
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