Manchester United did not deserve to draw Sevilla 0-0 on the road this afternoon, but the good thing about soccer is that the scarcity of goals produces all manner of undeserved results. United took just a single shot on goal and they never seemed to get their offense into a reasonably high gear, instead choosing to just sort of kick out at Sevilla legs, try to get Alexis the ball on the break, and generally behave like a José Mourinho team. Sevilla, meanwhile, bombarded David de Gea’s goal with eight shots and manufactured several good chances, including 12 corners. The stats said Sevilla should have won, but the stats lie, and they fail to take de Gea’s brilliance into account.
We’ve written about de Gea rescuing United in games they shouldn’t have won in the recent past, and while today’s performance wasn’t as impressive as his shutdown job against Arsenal, he made one of the best saves he’s ever made at the end of the first half. On a night when United couldn’t move the ball, he was everything his club needed. Sevilla aren’t as prolific as the Gunners, but my God, they would have scored at least the match winner against almost any other keeper in the world. Instead, they were met with this.
That is good as it gets (the typically quiet Spaniard had to admit that it was “fantastico”), and while Luis Muriel could have done more to keep it out of de Gea’s reach, that shouldn’t take anything away from this. José Mourinho might have been nonplussed, but perhaps that’s what happens when you see de Gea pull shit like this every game.