David De Gea Man United
David De Gea

Spain became the third big team to be knocked out of the 2018 World Cup after their defeat at the hands of Russia in a penalty shootout on Sunday.

Portugal and Argentina bowed out of the tournament on Saturday after defeats to two very deserving opponents in the form of Uruguay and France. But Spain’s exit was a bit shocking given the fact they were playing Russia – a team that not many have placed their bets on.

But the host nation did manage to take the game to penalties where their goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev made two saves helping his team seal a quarter-final berth.




While Akinfeev has been praised by everyone for his heroics, David De Gea, on the other hand, failed to make even one save during the shootout.

In reality, no one expects a keeper to save a penalty but given the fact that De Gea has been touted by many as the best keeper in the world, this was the least that the Spanish fans could have expected from him.




And now former Manchester United and Liverpool striker Michael Owen has made a bit bizarre but logical point.

In Owen’s opinion, the Spanish coach should have saved one substitution for the penalty shootout in order to bring in second choice keeper Pepe Reina.




Michael Owen goes on to outline the fact that De Gea is the best keeper in the world according to him but he feels that Reina is better at saving penalties.

Owen wrote: “Unbelievable. I don’t know the stats but despite De Gea being the best GK in the world (IMO), is he as good as Pepe Reina at saving pens? Has Hierro made a mistake not saving a sub to bring Reina on for the shootout?”








And ever since Michael Owen posted this tweet a lot of people have come out in support for the former English International claiming that Spain should have chalked out a plan to use Pepe Reina during the penalty shootout.

While Michael Owen has made a very definite point but in our opinion, Spanish coach Fernando Hierro did not have the courage to pull out a Louis Van Gaal moment even if the thought of replacing De Gea with Pepe Reina had crossed his mind.



Read: Former England defender perfectly outlines the reason for Portugal and Argentina’s exit from the World Cup.

Read: Premier League superstar claims he is happy that both Ronaldo and Messi are out of the World Cup.

Read: Diego Maradona’s recent comments spares no one, not even Lionel Messi.




Read: La Liga maybe ruling the UEFA but the English Premier League is certainly the king when it comes to FIFA.

Read: 5 major facts from the group stages of the 2018 World Cup.