MANCHESTER UNITED legend Paul Scholes has hit out at David De Gea after his penalty heartache.
The Spaniard conceded 11 of Villarreal’s spot-kicks before missing his own as United failed to end their four-year wait for silverware.
De Gea, 30, has now failed to save a penalty for five years, with his last coming against Everton in the 2016 FA Cup final.
That record extends to 40 penalties without making a save.
And Scholes was critical of De Gea at the full-time whistle, claiming he never looked confident between the sticks.
Speaking to BT Sport, the former midfielder said: “Once you get to penalties, anything can happen, we know that.
“I always feel a little bit worried, being an Englishman, that we’re going to be on the wrong side of it.
“But I have to say, David – we spoke about his record before it – he didn’t look like saving a penalty.
“They got a little bit lucky with Luke Shaw’s penalty as well.
“It’s a difficult night to take, but give Villarreal credit.”
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His thoughts were echoed by Chris Sutton who cricitised Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for not bringing on Dean Henderson for the shootout.
The Norwegian introduced Juan Mata and Alex Telles to take penalties but Sutton believes Henderson, who saved a kick by Man City’s Gabriel Jesus last season, would have been a better option.
Writing in his Daily Mail column, Sutton said: “Ole Gunnar Solskjaer missed a trick here. Dean Henderson’s record of saving penalties is ridiculously better than David De Gea’s.
“Louis van Gaal replaced Holland goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen with Tim Krul in the 120th minute of their 2014 World Cup quarter final against Costa Rica. That worked out pretty well.
DE GEA’S 40 STRAIGHT PENALTIES CONCEDED
THE spot-kicks David De Gea has conceded since he last saved one on April 23, 2016
Date Opponent Competition Scorer
1 Sep 18, 2016 Watford Prem Deeney
2 Oct 6, 2016 Italy World Cup qual De Rossi
3 Dec 4, 2016 Everton Prem Baines
4 Jan 15, 2017 Liverpool Prem Milner
5 Jan 26, 2017 Hull City League Cup Huddlestone
6 Mar 4, 2017 Bournemouth Prem King
7 Nov 28, 2017 Watford Prem Deeney
8 May 19, 2018 Chelsea FA Cup Hazard
9 June 15, 2018 Portugal World Cup Ronaldo
10 July 1, 2018 Russia World Cup Dzyuba
11 July 1, 2018 Russia *World Cup Simolov
12 July 1, 2018 Russia *World Cup Ignashevich
13 July 1, 2018 Russia *World Cup Golovin
14 July 1, 2018 Russia *World Cup Cheryshev
15 Aug 19, 2018 Brighton Prem Gross
16 Oct 28, 2018 Everton Prem Sigurdssoin
17 Dec 8, 2018 Fulham Prem Kamara
18 Dec 22, 2018 Cardiff Prem Camarasa
19 Mar 10, 2019 Arsenal Prem Aubameyang
20 Mar 23, 2019 Norway Euro Ch’ship qual King
21 May 12, 2019 Cardiff Prem Mendez-Laing
22 Dec 22, 2019 Watford Prem Deeney
23 July 4, 2020 Bournemouth Prem King
24 July 22, 2020 West Ham Prem Antonio
25 Sep 19, 2020 C Palace Prem Zaha
26 Sep 26, 2020 Brighton Prem Maupay
27 Oct 4, 2020 Tottenham Prem Kane
28 Nov 1, 2020 Arsenal Prem Aubameyang
29 Apr 29, 2021 Roma Europa Pellegrini
30 May 26, 2021 Villarreal *Europa G Moreno
31 May 26, 2021 Villarreal *Europa Raba
32 May 26, 2021 Villarreal *Europa Alcacer
33 May 26, 2021 Villarreal *Europa A Moreno
34 May 26, 2021 Villarreal *Europa Parejo
35 May 26, 2021 Villarreal *Europa Gomez
36 May 26, 2021 Villarreal *Europa Albiol
37 May 26, 2021 Villarreal *Europa Coquelin
38 May 26, 2021 Villarreal *Europa Mario
39 May 26, 2021 Villarreal *Europa Tortres
40 May 26, 2021 Villarreal *Europa Rulli
*Shootout pens.
“Solskjaer could have copied Van Gaal. It might have hurt De Gea’s feelings but it would have been for the good of the team
“Solskjaer will no doubt spend some time wondering whether he could have played this differently, and what might have happened if he had.”
The United boss did admit after the contest he considered switching his goalkeepers but opted against the decision.
He said: “You go through every scenario, of course, and it had crossed my mind in the build-up to the game [de Gea’s penalty record] but we were confident in David and prepared.
“Anything can happen in a penalty shootout. I stuck with the ‘keeper who played all of the game.
“I’ve got to say the penalty shootout was high quality, but we didn’t do enough in the 120 minutes to score more goals and that’s the disappointing bit.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
