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David de Gea warms up before last night's match. Shaun Botterill/PA Wire/NMC Pool

Solskjaer defends under-fire goalkeeper De Gea after Keane rant

The Spanish keeper was dubbed overrated by former United midfielder Roy Keane.

MANCHESTER UNITED BOSS Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has hit back at Roy Keane after the former Ireland captain said David De Gea was overrated and that he should have saved Steven Bergwijn’s goal in last night’s 1-1 draw at Tottenham.

The former Manchester United midfielder did not mince his words in his assessment of the Spanish goalkeeper’s attempt to keep out Bergwijn’s first-half strike.

The Dutchman burst through the United defence and shot straight at De Gea, but it squirmed in and United needed an 81st-minute penalty from Bruno Fernandes to earn a deserved point.

Keane, in his role as a pundit on Sky Sports, said De Gea should not be allowed on the bus after the game and that he would have saved Bergwijn’s effort, even though the Spaniard pulled off a good save from Son Heung-min.

“I think we’re disappointed they scored the first time they had a chance,” Solskjaer said. “The boy hit it really well. The ball moves.

“Roy was a fantastic midfielder, a good friend of mine, but I’m not sure he would have stopped it.

“David is disappointed with it but the ball was moving. We reacted well, he had a good save five minutes after.

“We had a ball spell for 10 minutes and they looked like they could get the second so when David saved the second one at least we were in the game at half-time.”

Despite De Gea’s mistake, United were the better team, but needed Fernandes’ late penalty to earn a point and it came after a bit of magic from Paul Pogba.

The Frenchman was playing his first game since December, but came off the bench and made a fool of Eric Dier by ghosting past him and then drawing a foul.

Solskjaer was pleased with his midfielder’s cameo.

“Paul did well and it’s not a problem having a fit Paul Pogba in the squad,” he added. “We’re delighted, he’s delighted, he’s had a terrible injury prone season and a couple of months out, coming back, wanting to get back in before lockdown started.

“He showed real quality out here and contributed for us to get the point. He did everything a midfielder should do; tackled, passed, showed some skill to win the penalty.”

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