De Gea’s woeful Man Utd penalty record goes on as Maupay scores cheeky panenka past Spaniard

Written By James Westwood

David de Gea’s woeful penalty record for Manchester United has been extended after Neal Maupay’s cheeky Panenka against the Spaniard.

Brighton took the lead in their clash with United at the Amex Stadium on Saturday afternoon after Chris Kavanagh pointed to the spot following Bruno Fernandes’ clumsy challenge on Tariq Lamptey, 37 minutes into the contest.

Maupay stepped up to convert from 12 yards, producing an audacious chip which completely deceived De Gea as he dived the wrong way and could only watch on helplessly as the ball nestled into the roof of the net.

Questions have been asked over De Gea’s form in between the sticks over the past couple of seasons, with basic positioning and handling errors becoming an all too regular occurrence for a shot-stopper once revered as the best in the business.

He has also proven to be ineffective when it comes to keeping out spot-kicks, with Maupay’s effort marking the 27th penalty he has conceded out of the last 29 he has faced.

De Gea has failed to keep out 19 consecutive penalties in the Premier League, with the last one he saved coming way back in 2014 during a clash with Everton.

He nearly improved on that underwhelming streak when he kept out Jordan Ayew’s penalty during United’s 3-1 defeat against Crystal Palace last weekend, but he was adjudged to have moved off his goal-line when the ball was struck, leading to a retake and successful conversion from Wilfried Zaha.

The 29-year-old was very nearly asked to face another spot-kick early in the second half at Brighton, with United having drawn level just before the interval through a Lewis Dunk own goal.

Paul Pogba was initially penalised for bringing down Aaron Connolly in the area, only for Kavanagh to overturn his original decision following a VAR review.

United managed to gain an underserved lead moments later, as Bruno Fernandes found Marcus Rashford with a delightful through ball before the England international turned Brighton’s Ben White inside out and fired past Mathew Ryan.

In a chaotic end to the game, Brighton equalised through Solly March in the 95th minute only for Fernandes to convert a 100th minute spot-kick after VAR had adjudged Maupay to have handballed, with the check coming after the referee had blown the final whistle.