Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag has lavished praise on David de Gea for bouncing back from "a really bad day in the office" to help his side reach the final of the FA Cup.
De Gea faced huge criticism for his performance against Sevilla in the Europa League last week, with the Spaniard arguably at fault for all three of the Spanish outfit's goals in the second leg of the quarter-final.
A difficult night for the Spaniard was capped off when he exited his goal in an attempt to control a long ball but instead passed it straight to Youssef En-Nesyri, who scored his second of the match for the La Liga side.
However, the 31-year-old bounced back against Brighton & Hove Albion in the semi-finals of the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon.
De Gea's standout moment came in the second period when he made an excellent save to keep out a powerful strike from Julio Enciso.
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Ten Hag said that the rest of the players also 'let De Gea down' with their performance on Thursday, but the Dutchman was delighted with the response of the former Atletico Madrid youngster to the setback.
"I think he had two brilliant saves and but know that he's a world-class keeper. Thursday, he had a really bad day in the office, and it hurt," Ten Hag told reporters.
"Really bad [day in the] office I have seen, but it's always when you are the keeper and you make mistakes often you get penalised, but it doesn't mean that we have to go under.
"And also, we as a team, we let him down and we didn't fight back on Thursday night."
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De Gea's future at Man United continues to be called into question, with the stopper only having a contract with the 20-time English champions until the end of June.
However, the Spaniard is widely expected to sign a new deal at Old Trafford and remain the club's number one goalkeeper for the 2023-24 campaign.
The proposed new contract will see him take a pay cut, though, with Man United not prepared to pay him the £375,000 a week that he currently collects.
There could still be a lot of movement in the goalkeeping department at the club this season, though, as Tom Heaton's contract is also due to expire at the end of June, while Jack Butland is set to return to parent club Crystal Palace.
Dean Henderson will be back at Old Trafford this summer following a loan spell at Nottingham Forest, but he could then depart on a permanent basis.
Matt Law
