Paul Scholes was not happy with the role that Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea played in Arsenal’s opening goal at Old Trafford last night.
Fellow pundit and former Gunners striker Ian Wright said that De Gea was clearly not that badly injured despite lying on the deck before Emile Smith Rowe fired in his shot from outside the box:
“When you see David De Gea afterwards, when they give the goal, he is so incensed, he goes after the referee. My problem with that there is not enough seriously wrong with him to be down like he is there.”
Scholes agreed with Wright’s assessment, saying the fact that Fred stood on De Gea’s ankle shouldn’t have led to him staying down and leaving Smith Rowe an open goal to aim at:
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with David. He should be there protecting his goal… It’s embarrassing, it’s embarrassing.”
It was one of the most bizarre goals you will ever see. Referee Martin Atkinson initially looked like he was going to disallow it after blowing his whistle. However, after being told by VAR that he had only blown up after the ball hit the back of the net, he had no choice but to give the goal.
Luckily the controversial moment did not have a real impact on the result, with United battling to a 3-2 win, thanks to a brace from Cristiano Ronaldo.
