Alan Shearer has highlighted the tweak David de Gea made to his game in Manchester United's FA Cup semi-final penalty shootout win over Brighton on Sunday.
The Red Devils booked their place in the final at Wembley against Manchester City on June 3 after overcoming a stern test in Brighton. Chances were few and far between across the 120 minutes as both sides tried to battle it out for the elusive first goal, with Julio Enciso going the closest throughout the game.
However, penalties were needed to separate two evenly-matched teams. The shootout was performed to perfection, up until Solly March blazer over the crossbar as Brighton's seventh taker. That meant Victor Lindelof needed to score to secure victory for United - and he did just that, rolling the ball beyond Robert Sanchez.
Shearer, who was on punditry duty for BBC Sport, decided to highlight the role De Gea had on the game as he kept a much-welcomed clean sheet and made some terrific saves. This was a difference outcome to his performance for United against Sevilla in the Europa League, where he made a catalogue of errors.
"I think they also learned from what happened in midweek," said Shearer. "They know that Brighton would like to press and they didn't have a chance to do that because every time the goalkeeper had it, every single time, he just went long.
"No nonsense, get it up front as quick as you can, get it up front, not going to make any mistakes. And, when he was needed - which was three or four times - he pulled off some really good saves, didn't he?"
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Former United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel also heaped praise on De Gea and admitted he was the difference between the two sides in the end. De Gea made a number of excellent saves at Wembley.
"I think that is a sign of a really good goalkeeper," said Schmeichel, speaking to BBC Sport. "You cannot play football for so long without making mistakes and, unfortunately for him, a few of them came in the same game, and that put the spotlight on him for this game today.
"He's come out, he's played really, really good. I think without David de Gea in goal today, I think Brighton would have won this game comfortably."
Ten Hag also hailed his no.1 for his performance as United scraped past an in-form Brighton side. "I was very impressed with him," Ten Hag told BBC Sport. "He made some brilliant saves.
"It hurt when he made mistakes on Thursday. Often when you make mistakes as a keeper you get punished. We let him down, we didn’t fight back for him. We bounced back today though."
