It was on a titanic February night in Madrid’s magnificent Santiago Bernabeau Stadium that, amongst the lights and flashbulbs, the red and white jerseys, and 85,000 passionate fans, one man in green made his presence felt.
The bearded figure of Spanish goalkeeper David De Gea, temporarily back in his homeland, put in a display of such proficiency and experience beyond his years, which confirmed categorically that the green goalkeeping shirt was well and truly his.
Some sports betting sites had written off the young Spaniard, but the United stopper is starting to show sign of the hefty £17million price tag.
On a night which was always going to be a test for his Manchester United teammates, in front of an unimaginably substantial worldwide audience of millions, De Gea was quite simply unstoppably, save a bullet header from nemesis Cristiano Ronaldo that would have needed a team-full of De Gea’s to keep out.
There were no signs of the nerves that had plagued the Spaniard on his initial frays in England. True, this was European football, where the speed and tactics bore some relation to how he had experienced the game at his first club, Atletico Madrid. But this was no one-off performance; this has truly been De Gea’s breakthrough year. The days of squad rotation for the major games between De Gea and his Danish rival for the number 1 shirt Anders Lindegaard appear long gone.
I have always tried to use the example of Heurelho Gomes when I was putting De Gea’s entry into the English game into perspective. The Brazilian had a torrid time for the first few months of his Tottenham career, and although his time at White Hart Lane was not without incident thereafter, he eventually gave hints as to why he had built up a solid reputation at his previous club, the former giants PSV Eindhoven, and in his handful of caps for the national side.
This may not have been de Gea’s inspiration, but it has most definitely been a rapid rise into the hearts of United supporters. Anders Lindegaard has admitted that he is considering his options this summer, just more confirmation if it was needed that de Gea is here to stay at Old Trafford.
Whereas last season, Joe Hart could do no wrong in the eyes of the media (mainly, it has to be said, because he is the England number #1, De Gea is at least being mentioned in the same breath as the Manchester City stopper, and he deserves every drop of praise that is passed his way.
Like the great United keepers of the recent past – Peter Schmeichel, Edwin van der Sar, and perhaps also including Fabien Barthez – he is not immune from the odd mistake, but he can usually be relied upon when the moment demands. And there was no finer moment to prove this point than in sunny Madrid.
United are in safe hands.
By Daniel Matcham @boymetworld91
