Rooney & Carrick Praise De Gea Display

It was a close contest but David De Gea has beaten off competition from Anthony Martial to win Manchester United’s Man of the Match award for Saturday’s Emirates FA Cup semi-final.

The Spanish goalkeeper was truly exceptional in the 2-1 victory over Everton and made a plethora of saves to deny the Toffees, though it was his dramatic penalty stop to thwart Romelu Lukaku in the second half that prompted the loudest cheers of his name among the Reds supporters at Wembley.

Martial scored a game-changing winner in the 93rd minute that means United will contest the FA Cup final against Watford or Crystal Palace next month, and the Frenchman earned 42 per cent of votes cast by followers of @ManUtd. But that was not enough to beat De Gea’s 49 per cent and he has been rightly praised by his team-mates, including fellow Man of the Match nominee Wayne Rooney.

"It was a great penalty save," the captain told MUTV after the final whistle at the national stadium. "The pace with which the ball was hit shows he has a strong arm on him, and Everton had momentum behind them at that time. He’s the main reason why we’ve got to this final."

Michael Carrick also paid tribute to De Gea following his heroics against the Toffees and praised the keeper's incredible consistency in recent seasons.

"I don’t think it was a bad penalty, but David was sensational today – how many times have we said that over the last few years?" the midfielder said.

"He’s kept us in the game again; it’s almost what we’ve come to expect from him. Hopefully he can have quieter games between now and the end of the season!"