David de Gea redeemed himself by shutting out Brighton in FA Cup semi

CHRIS WHEELER: Shutting out Brighton to send Man United to the FA Cup final redeemed David de Gea just three days after his horror show in Seville – now he is tasked with stopping Man City from emulating his club’s 1999 Treble success

• De Gea performed well to keep Brighton at bay during the FA Cup semi-final  
• Penalties have never been his forte but Solly March’s miss sent United through
• The Spaniard is out of contract in July and his future in Manchester is still unclear

Half-time of extra-time here and the Wembley DJ decided to stick on Gimme Gimme Gimme during the brief interval. With all respect to ABBA, it wasn’t so much a man after midnight that we needed as a goal before it.

The way this FA Cup semi-final was going, Manchester United and Brighton could still be playing this morning and we wouldn’t have a winner.

Much of the blame for that goes to David de Gea, the United goalkeeper so maligned in Seville on Thursday night and so vital yesterday in guiding his team towards a second domestic cup final of the season.

De Gea was hammered in Spain, and rightly so for his part in Sevilla’s first and third goals, as United crashed out of the Europa League quarter-finals.

But the 32-year-old is nothing if not resilient, and three days later he pitched up at Wembley to redeem himself by shutting out Brighton on an even bigger stage.

David de Gea put in a strong showing against Brighton in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley

The Spaniard ‘redeemed himself’ after a horror show against Sevilla in the Europa League 

De Gea didn’t make a save in the shootout but Solly March’s miss sent Man United into the final 

De Gea couldn’t follow it up with a save in the shootout – penalties have never been his forte – but he had done enough and Solly March’s blast over the bar did the rest.

So we will have an all Manchester FA Cup final back here in June when there is every chance United will face the task of stopping City from emulating their Treble success of 1999.

‘There’s still a long way to the final, but it will be a big game against one of the best teams in Europe and the world,’ said De Gea. ‘We showed at home we can beat them, so let’s hope.

‘We are on the right track. One trophy, another final and fighting for the top-four. It’s not enough but it’s a big step from last season.’

It will not be enough to silence the speculation over De Gea’s future at United. He is prepared to take a cut on his £375,000-a-week wages, but not as much as United would like and the two sides are still well apart in negotiations.

De Gea will be out of contract at the end of June and there are no guarantees he will get a new one. 

Brighton’s Robert Sanchez is one of the players being linked as a replacement, and his Spanish compatriot played his part in maintaining the deadlock here, not least when he turned away Marcus Rashford’s deflected effort in extra-time.

It was one of few occasions the Brighton keeper was called into action before the shootout, when he was agonisingly close to saving Marcel Sabitzer’s penalty, but United’s cautious approach was understandable.

De Gea responded impressively after his nightmare performance in Seville on Thursday night

Brighton’s Robert Sanchez (left) is one of the candidates to replace De Gea at Old Trafford

Erik ten Hag’s side were still hurting from Sevilla and missing three centre-backs – Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire – who would usually have protected De Gea, so Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw played together in the middle for the first time.

It required a safety-first policy that also meant United did not risk playing out from the back as much as they did in Seville, a tactic that clearly doesn’t sit comfortably with De Gea.

‘What I really like about him this season is that it’s not his strength to pass it out, but he is working really hard,’ former United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel told the BBC in his defence yesterday.

De Gea has always been a good shot-stopper, though, and he was on top form at Wembley. The game was less than seven minutes old when he made a one-handed save to keep out Alexis Mac Allister’s free-kick.

In the 57th minute he produced an even better effort to turn Julio Enciso’s rising effort over the bar. When March tried to catch him out with a low shot to his near post in the 83rd minute, De Gea kept it out with one hand. 

He got a knock for his troubles when he recovered in time to smother the loose ball at the feet of Pascal Gross, and again when he hacked clear from Kaoru Mitoma in extra-time.

It led to United’s first shootout since the 2021 Europa League Final when they lost 11-10 to Villarreal on penalties in Gdansk. De Gea didn’t save a single one and then missed the decisive spot-kick.

Not including shoot-outs, he has saved just seven of the 48 penalties he has faced in a 12-year career at United.

Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw played as a centre-back pairing for the first time at Wembley

Man United will be tasked with stopping cross-city rivals Man City in the FA Cup final in June

This one went to form as De Gea didn’t get near any of Brighton’s first six attempts before March missed.

But he had done more than enough at Wembley again, having broken Schmeichel’s clean sheet record for the club when United lifted the Carabao Cup here in February.

‘I thought he really redeemed himself from Thursday night, and proved to everyone that he is a good goalie,’ said the Dane.

‘I thought he should have been man of the match. De Gea has been fantastic. Without him, I don’t think we’d have gone into extra-time.’

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