MANCHESTER UNITED legend Paul Scholes says keeper David De Gea ‘bottled it’ after letting in RB Leipzig’s third goal.
United were dumped out of the Champions League after a dismal 3-2 defeat to RB Leipzig in Germany.
That will only increase pressure on under-fire boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But Scholes, speaking as part of BT Sport’s coverage of the game, was damning of United No1 De Gea’s contribution to their downfall.
He dithered as Justin Kluivert stabbed home the German’s third goal.
Scholes said: “David De Gea here… he bottles it. He’s scared of getting hurt. It should never go across the box like that.
“As a goalkeeper, you come out, make yourself as big as you can.
“You might get smashed in the face, you might get injured… but he turns his back away.
“He actually makes himself smaller. For such an experienced goalkeeper, it’s criminal.”
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Defender and captain Harry Maguire didn’t come out too well either, having the chance to clear the ball.
Scholes described him as ‘wooden’ and ‘stiff’ to sum up United’s despair.
United went 3-0 down in the tie, but gaven themselves a fighting chance of the point they needed to qualify.
Bruno Fernandes netted an 80th minute penalty and wantaway midfielder Paul Pogba headed home a second two minutes later.
But it wasn’t enough as United dropped into the Europa League.
Speaking after the game, Solskajer said: “We showed spirit in a comeback again – it’s different to the Premier League – you can’t give a team a three goal lead and expect to come back.
“We were unlucky towards the end, I felt the character was there and I almost thought it was in at the last minute too.
“Of course you can’t say we were good enough, we weren’t.
“In a difficult group we started well, then the turning point was the defeat to Istanbul – that’s where we lost the points that we should have had.
“Today we knew we had to defend crosses and balls in the box, but we just couldn’t clear them.”
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