Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has revealed that before the penalty shootout in the Europa League final loss to Villarreal, he considered replacing Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea with Dean Henderson.
While the Red Devils failed to win their first major trophy in four years, Unai Emery's side reigned supreme in Gdansk, claiming the Spanish club's first major trophy.
After a 1-1 draw, the Spanish side won a thrilling penalty shootout 11-10, with goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli scoring his side's 11th before stepping back in goal to make the decisive save, stopping United counterpart David de Gea's spot-kick.
On Wednesday night in Poland, De Gea was unable to stop any of the penalty kicks. The Spaniard has a shockingly poor record in penalty situations, having now conceded the last 40 penalties he's faced for United and his country in regulation time and shootouts.
The United goalkeeper hasn't saved a penalty in five years, with his most recent save coming against Everton in the 2016 FA Cup final, while Henderson has a much better record.
Solskjaer sent on Alex Telles and Juan Mata as his final two substitutions in added time solely to take penalties, before later admitting that he had considered replacing De Gea instead.
“Of course, you go through every scenario, and it [De Gea's penalty record] had crossed my mind in the lead-up to the game, but we were confident in David and prepared.
"In a penalty shootout, anything can happen." I stayed with the keeper, who played the entire game.
“I have to say that the penalty shootout was excellent, but we didn't do enough in the 120 minutes to score more goals, which was disappointing.
“We were under pressure, and there were times when we felt that if we just kicked on a little bit more, we could get a goal. But we simply couldn't.”
It was Emery's fourth Europa League triumph as a manager, after winning the competition three times with Sevilla, but it was Villarreal's first major trophy.
"We have been absolutely flawless in the Europa League." Since the very beginning. Some days, we arrived at the stadium at 6 a.m. to prepare for a Sunday game. "All of this makes the trip worthwhile," Emery said at a press conference.
"We were talking about how we should enjoy these moments. Finally, you are proud to have reached the title (decider), but you are disappointed if you do not win. Winning is the next, and most important, step. We do this job for these occasions. We were able to bring joy to many people."
No comments:
Post a Comment