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Before the World Cup, during the World Cup, after the World Cup.

David de Gea has been receiving criticism and doubts from the Spanish media for some time now. Unfairly singled out in the aftermath of Spain’s exit from the tournament in Russia, when the current international break started things kicked off again.

Both AS and Marca questioned whether the Manchester United goalkeeper should remain first choice for his country, with Chelsea’s Kepa being talked up as the alternative.

Luis Enrique stuck with the former Atletico Madrid player and there was a huge amount of pressure ahead of the match against England on Saturday evening.

De Gea dealt with that and made a few good saves to help his side to a 2-1 victory in the UEFA Nations League.

Sunday’s edition of Marca called it the ‘return’ of De Gea and pointed out that all of his teammates who spoke after the match wanted to push praise his way.

Valencia’s Rodrigo was perhaps the strongest, and sent a message to the media, quoted by Marca as saying: “He has saved us. He is always important and does good performances. I hope you are critical in his favour now.”