Manchester United legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel praises David de Gea

Former Manchester United star goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel has backed David de Gea to become the Red Devils No. 1 keeper for the next two decades.

The Spanish U-21 international did not start his United career as he would have liked, making the headlines for all the wrong reasons after making a few goal-keeping errors.

However, the £18.3 million man has been on cracking form in recent weeks, making unbelievable saves to rescue United versus Chelsea, Ajax Amsterdam and Norwich City.

“The media decided before he even played his first game that they were going to absolutely hammer him,” Schmeichel told Goal.com. “That was a way of having a dig at Sir Alex.

“I thought it was terrible. To be 20 years of age in a different country, not even speaking the language and playing for the biggest club in the world, and to be singled out in that way.”

I think that Schmeichel is spot on here. De Gea may have made a few goal-keeping errors, but the fact is that he had just suffered a dip in form, not class.

After all, form is temporary and class is permanent.

Furthermore, Schmeichel couldn’t resist the temptation of commenting on the English Premier League title race between his beloved Manchester United and their “noisy neighbors” Manchester City.

The Great Dane may have finished his career at City, but it is quite clear that he’s a Manchester United man at heart.

“The advantage we [United] have is that we’ve been there many times before and we understand what’s going to happen in March and April,” said Schmeichel.

Again, there’s no doubt that United’s experience will keep them cool under pressure.

The bevy of experience in Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, including the likes of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, who both scored in United’s 2-1 win at Norwich last weekend, will be that much more important in the final months of the campaign, with United striving to over-take City and become Premier League champions.

“Once you’ve won the first one, it’s not easy but it’s easier to get the next one because the whole understanding of winning is such a big part of it,” Schmeichel added.

City have not their first one just yet, so it’s advantage Manchester United yet again.

That being said, City are still top of the table, at least at the moment, setting up a dramatic encounter between the two Manchester-based clubs on April 30 at the Etihad Stadium.

Now then, which Manchester club will win the English Premier League trophy in 2011-12?