Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Manchester United legend Paul Scholes accuses David De Gea of ‘bottling it’ during Champions League defeat to RB Leipzig

December 08, 2020 - Tags : fixtures , Football - news , IFTTT , pictures , scores , transfers

Manchester United legend Paul Scholes was less than impressed with goalkeeper David De Gea during their Champions League defeat to RB Leipzig.

The Red Devils crashed out of the competition, losing 3-2 to the Bundesliga side.

David De Gea conceded three goals against RB Leipzig

Justin Kluivert scored the third for RB Leipzig

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side conceded twice early on before conceding a third in the 69th minute.

A late fight back wasn’t enough to stop United from finishing third in the group and dropping into the Europa League.

It was that third goal that drew criticism from Scholes as De Gea appeared to shy away from making a challenge on the attacker.

"He bottled it. He was scared of getting himself hurt."

"He makes himself smaller, it's criminal."

Paul Scholes was not impressed with David De Gea's goalkeeping for RB Leipzig's third goal. pic.twitter.com/Iyd7GKZlBr

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) December 8, 2020

The United hero told BT Sport: “You never felt they were going to create enough chances to come back into the game.

“David De Gea here… he bottles it. He’s scared of getting himself hurt.

“You should never go across your box like that. Harry Maguire is wooden and stiff and De Gea, as a goalkeeper you come out and make yourself as big as you can.

“You might get smashed in the face or get injured but he turns his back away. He actually makes himself smaller. It’s criminal for such an experienced goalkeeper.”

De Gea was the target of criticism from Scholes

Captain Harry Maguire also expressed his disappointment that the club went out of the competition despite only needing a point from their final two games.

Maguire said: “This club deserves to be in the competition.

“We have to get through the group. We knew, no matter what group it was, it was going to be tough but we have to do more.

“We looked at the group and felt we should get through – those are the standards of the club.

“I’m the captain, I’m disappointed, I’m gutted for everyone because we worked so hard to reach this competition.

“I don’t want to look at excuses. There are 11 bodies who have to go out there and be aggressive, win the first balls, win the second balls and defend crosses.

“It’s the basics of football. It doesn’t matter what shape you are in, if you can’t defend crosses, you are going to lose football matches.”

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