Spain were sent crashing out of the last 16 by hosts Russia and the goalkeeper was held responsible for La Roja’s exit.
It’s fair to say David de Gea had a World Cup to forget.
He leaves Russia with the worst statistics of any goalkeeper for 52 years.
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The Manchester United star made fewer saves from at least three World Cup games than anyone since 1966.
Out of the seven shots on Spain’s goal, six of them ended up as goals, and he failed to stop any of the four Russian penalties despite getting close to a couple.
But, close in those circumstances is not good enough.
That isn’t to excuse the fact that their outfield players also performed poorly. For much of the game against Russia, Spain kept the ball but offer no threat.
Spanish outlet Marca opened their report with: “De Gea didn’t save any of Russia’s four penalties and left Russia having lost his position as the undisputed No. 1 of Spain.
“It would be wrong to blame David De Gea for Spain’s elimination from the World Cup,” they added.
“But what is true is that the goalkeeper has not produced the best four games of his life and statistics back this up.
“It means that he is the goalkeeper that has made fewest saves from at least three games since 1966.”
AS described De Gea as a ‘ghost’ and in reference to Aleksandr Golovin’s penalty that slid under the United man, they wrote: “Nobody can explain how he did not stop this penalty.
“De Gea’s World Cup has been a disaster.
“The penalty shootout was one more example. In the third Russian penalty with everything in favour to stop it, incomprehensibly the ball went through him.”
De Gea shouldn’t worry too much about it. He’ll be back in Manchester soon, where he’s appreciated and isn’t blamed for an entire team underperforming.
