They’ve quickly changed their name to acknowledge De Gea’s save
Football Twitter can be a funny old place at times.
No professional footballer – regardless of the level they play at and what they’ve achieved in their career – is immune from being the butt of someone’s joke.
Take David De Gea, for example. Despite being one of the finest goalkeepers of his generation, his failure to save any of the 11 penalties he faced in Manchester United’s shootout defeat to Villarreal in the Europa League final highlighted his largely poor record at saving spot kicks.
It also presented one Twitter user with the opportunity to set up an account dedicated to documenting his penalty failures. Why? Because Twitter, that’s why.
@davedoesntsave was created in August, and carried the name ‘Did De Gea save a penalty today?’.
‘Tweeting every day until de gea saves a penalty,’ the account’s bio explained, had it not already been clear.
The account had accumulated a few hundred followers in its time but had stuck to its promise, confirming on a daily basis that no, De Gea had not saved any penalties.
Na
— did de gea save a penalty today? (@davedoesntsave) September 17, 2021
On the morning of Manchester United’s meeting with West Ham, the person responsible for the account tweeted that they wouldn’t be able to watch the match the London Stadium due to their own Sunday League commitments.
“I may miss the penalty save if it happens,” they explained.
Not to worry. The chances of United conceding a penalty would be remote, surely. And even if they did, history shows it was unlikely De Gea would be able to save it. This joke, surely, would run for a good while yet.
Except no.
In a frantic climax to the game at the London Stadium, West Ham were given the opportunity to equalise from 12 yards after Luke Shaw was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area.
On came penalty expert Mark Noble, with the job of tucking away the equaliser… but De Gea was equal to it, saving his first penalty in five years.
Predictably, @davedoesntsave’s tweet swiftly clocked up the retweets.
They soon responded, taking full responsibility for De Gea not saving a penalty sooner.
Related links:
- Solskjaer says Ronaldo was denied two stonewall penalties at West Ham
- Roy Keane pays Declan Rice highest compliment possible as United move discussed
- Wayne Rooney has sympathy with Derby staff with administration imminent
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