David de Gea’s bottle: Image emerges showing what was written on it vs Brighton | OneFootball

An image has emerged of the notes that Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea had written on his water bottle for his side’s penalty shootout against Brighton in the FA Cup semi-final.

Not that they made much of a difference though, with the United shot-stopper failing to save a single penalty.

The two sides could not be separated in 90 minutes of normal time, nor 30 minutes of extra time, with De Gea playing an important part in keeping Brighton’s attackers from scoring.

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But when the tie advanced to penalties, neither goalkeeper could keep a shot out.

Seagulls keeper Robert Sanchez came close, getting a hand to Marcel Sabitzer’s effort.

But De Gea failed save any of Brighton’s seven penalties. It was left to Solly March to blaze his penalty over and send the Red Devils through to the cup final.

De Gea’s notes for all to see

De Gea’s failure to save any penalty became talked about during and after the shootout.

And historically, he does not have the best penalty-saving record.

According to Transfermarkt, the Spaniard has only managed to save 13 penalties throughout his career during matches out of a possible 72.

For context, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson has saved 13 from a total of 32.

And that is without taking shootouts into consideration.

During United’s Europa League final against Villareal in 2021, De Gea failed to save a single spot-kick from a Villareal player, with all 11 men finding the back of the net.

It was the goalkeeper himself who missed the decisive penalty. And once again on Sunday, he failed to have much of an impact.

He did not save a shot during the shootout, despite all the notes on his water bottle.

Fans had spotted De Gea reading something in between Brighton players stepping up, with many assuming that they were notes about which side players usually went for.

And they were correct, with a new photo from ESPN showing the notes on his water bottle in high quality.

They are very specific as well, clearly stating how high a penalty is aimed as well as which side.

They did not give him an edge in the end, but with March skying his shot, it’s not like that mattered.

De Gea’s warning for the final

The result means that United will be returning to Wembley on June 3rd for a Manchester Derby in the cup final.

And speaking after the game, De Gea sent a warning to Man City, saying that his side had already shown they can beat one of the best teams in the world.

“‘There is still a long way to go to the final, it will be a big game against one of the best teams in Europe, in the world,” he told BBC, according to the Metro.

“We showed already when we played against them at home that we can beat them.”