Goalkeeper David de Gea missed the decisive penalty in Manchester United's Europa League final shoot-out defeat to Pau Torres' Villarreal in Gdansk, Poland on May 26; the pair have joined up with Spain to prepare for Euro 2020
Wednesday 2 June 2021 13:50, UK
Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea will not dwell on his penalty miss in the Europa League final defeat to Villarreal, international team-mate Pau Torres said, urging his compatriot to help lead Spain to glory at Euro 2020.
De Gea was the only player to miss his spot-kick in last week's marathon shootout which ended 11-10 to Villarreal following a 1-1 draw after extra-time, while Torres kept his nerve to score as his club won their first major trophy.
"He has a strong mind, I spoke with him after the game and this won't affect him," said Torres of De Gea in a news conference on Wednesday from Spain's Las Rozas training base, where they are preparing for the European Championship.
"It will stay in the past, I tried to encourage him as best as I could and told him not to worry about it because this summer he is going to lift a different trophy."
De Gea is part of Spain's 24-man squad but has not played for his country since a 1-0 defeat to Ukraine in the UEFA Nations League in October 2020 and is set to fight it out for the No 1 spot at the tournament with Unai Simon and Robert Sanchez.
Torres has been the subject of intense transfer speculation but said he was relaxed about his future heading into the tournament, adding that Spain were ambitious about winning the competition despite having an inexperienced squad compared to the sides that won Euro 2008 and Euro 2012.
"We have a squad of veterans and youngsters and we all have to try and be leaders, we're all capable of doing that," he said.
"We're candidates to win the European Championship and we're ready to do that."
Harry Maguire has revealed his ankle injury is "improving and getting better" as he fights to be fit for England's European Championship campaign.
The 28-year-old central defender has been sidelined since picking up the knock during Manchester United's Premier League win at Aston Villa on May 9.
He missed United's defeat to Villarreal in the Europa League final last week and England boss Gareth Southgate has admitted it will be a "tight" call on whether Maguire can be involved at Euro 2020, with the Three Lions kicking off their group games against Croatia on June 13.
"The fear that I had was missing everything," he told The Sun.
"I knew it was quite a bad injury. When I got the results of the scan, I knew it would be unlikely I would make the Europa League final - but we also never ruled it out.
"I knew for me to start the Europa League final was very unlikely but I hoped to play some part. However, it was out of reach and just not possible. Ahead of the final, I could still not run on the ankle. But it is now improving and getting better, so I am just looking forward to the Euros."
