BRUNO STARS
MAN United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer defended David de Gea after a howler gifted Everton the opener.
It was a tale of failure and redemption, controversy and justice – and ultimately two keepers.
Not for the first time both de Gea and Jordan Pickford produced howlers to gift the opposition goals, before finding some atoning answers in a dramatic finale when VAR again overruled the onfield officials to deny Everton a stoppagetime winner.
In the third minute de Gea dallied stupidly on the ball allowing Dominic Calvert-Lewin to close him down, stick out a leg and divert the clearance into the net.
It was one that will be shown on blooper clips for decades but boss Solskjaer defended him saying he retains his “100 per cent trust”.
The Spain No.1 did redeem himself late on when, with seconds left, he produced a stunning save from Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Solskjaer said: “For me, David has shown here his reaction in the way he made amends and saved that chance at the end.
“David is, for me, the best goalkeeper in the world.”
After the Spaniard’s howler Pickford managed to offer some support by producing an awful mistake of his own.
The visitors, inspired by the brilliance of January signing Bruno Fernandes, slowly turned the screw with some thrilling counterattacking football.
Everton though had appeared to ride the storm only for the Portugal forward to cut inside from the right to unleash a swerving, dipping shot. Pickford seemed to have it covered but fatally allowed it to slip through his arms.
But the home side thought they had won it when United were slow to clear that late Sigurdsson chance. After the shot was saved he remained on the turf in front of de Gea as Calvert-Lewin’s rebound shot deflected off Harry Maguire, wrong-footing the keeper.
Initially, the officials seemed happy but VAR disallowed it because Sigurdsson was deemed to be “interfering”.
Furious Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti was shown a red card by referee Chris Kavanagh for his remonstrations and he said: “Honestly, it was a difficult decision. In our opinion it didn’t affect the vision of the goalkeeper. In their opinion it affected the vision and the movement of the goalkeeper. It’s really difficult.”