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Manchester United’s former goalkeeper David de Gea endured a nightmare return to football in Fiorentina’s 3-3 draw with Puskás Akadémia in the Europa Conference League playoffs.
The 33 year old famously spent well over a year without a club after being released by United at the end of his contract last summer.
De Gea was linked to a plethora of clubs around the world but he finally settled on a move to Florence and Serie A earlier in the window.
The Spaniard reduced his wage demands to secure a move but in spite of the transfer, he claimed Manchester United would “always be in his heart” after making a mammoth 545 appearances for the club.
Sadly for himself and United fans however, The Sun report that the keeper’s “hotly anticipated return to football began with a nightmare.”
“Having last conceded to Ilkay Gundogan in a 2-1 FA Cup defeat in May 2023 – 446 days ago – De Gea surrendered two early goals in the Europa Conference League play-offs.”
The second goal in particular was a low shot across his right hand post that perhaps a less rusty version of himself could have stopped.
Fiorentina did fight back from 0-2 down to lead 3-2 with former United player Sofyan Amrabat entering the fray in the 66th minute of action.
There was to be late heartbreak, though, as De Gea would concede a third goal of the evening in the 89th minute to end a disappointing night for La Viola.
They will however get a chance to make amends next Thursday when they play the second leg in Hungary, where De Gea will certainly aim to show his more usual solid self.
The Spaniard was able to complete two saves and had a passing accuracy of 73%. He was given a poor score of 6.4 on Sofascore.
After so long out of the game, it will naturally take the United legend a while to get back into the swing of things but with regular gametime, he will hope that this process will not take too long as he aims to kickstart his return to professional football.
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