Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has given his verdict on David de Gea’s nightmare performance against Cristiano Ronaldo this evening.
The Spain goalkeeper messed up terribly on Ronaldo’s second goal of the night, letting a fairly simple effort trickle through his fingers and into the back of the net.
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Ronaldo hit a hat-trick in the thrilling 3-3 draw, and while De Gea could not really be blamed for the other goals, he really should have done much better on that second, considering he’s one of the finest ‘keepers in the world.
Mourinho, at this summer’s World Cup as a pundit for RT, admitted it was a bad mistake by his player but backed him to bounce back.
‘It’s my boy. It hurts me to say it, but he knows. He knows it’s a bad mistake,’ Mourinho told RT, as quoted by the Metro.
‘It’s a mistake that he doesn’t make with us, with United. He was our 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’ll be there, not afraid. Confident to go and ready to help the team.’
To be fair on De Gea, you could almost imagine he was nervous just at the sight of Ronaldo, who was clearly in the mood tonight.
The 33-year-old was involved in all of Portugal’s best moves and hit a stunning free-kick to complete his hat-trick late on and secure a point.
A real big-game player, Ronaldo can even make the very best look mediocre, and that’s what he seemed to do to De Gea.