Luis Enrique demanded plaudits for David de Gea after the Spain goalkeeper s brilliant display during Thursday s 1-1 Nations League draw against Germany in Stuttgart.
Jose Gaya pounced deep into stoppage time to snatch a point at the Mercedes-Benz Arena after an excellent Timo Werner goal gave the hosts a 51st-minute lead.
But Manchester United goalkeeper De Gea was arguably the key to Luis Enrique s men taking a share of the spoils.
De Gea made sharp first-half saves to thwart Thilo Kehrer, Julian Draxler and Leroy Sane, while he also denied Niklas Sule at close quarters as the game moved towards its conclusion.
A string of errors for United saw the 29-year-old end the 2019-20 season at a low ebb, but Luis Enrique believes De Gea and Spain understudy Kepa Arrizabalaga, who has endured a tough time at Chelsea, have been unfairly singled out for criticism.
He [De Gea] has played a lot of games like this in England, the Spain boss told reporters afterwards.
We monitor him exhaustively, but he and Kepa are in the news if they make a mistake. They re used to it.
With the game he s played we should be saying what a great goalkeeper we have.
I ll encourage them to not fall apart and it s a position that I demand a lot from.
But because the press give them such a hard time, I treat them more affectionately.
They both know that their mistakes are more noticeable than those of other players, but they re used to it.
— David de Gea (@D_DeGea)
Barcelona teenager Ansu Fati became the second youngest full international in Spain s history when he came on at half-time.
Mikel Merino and Oscar Rodriguez also won their first caps from the bench, while Ferran Torres completed the whole game on his debut and the Manchester City winger s cross led to Gaya s equaliser.
Ansu had a resounding debut, Luis Enrique added.
There are players taking their first steps with the team and they worked well.
They re going to play a lot more minutes. It s nice to see that people really want it.
Wolves winger Adama Traore is in line to become Luis Enrique s next debutant after he was cleared to play in Sunday s game against Ukraine, having passed medical tests following a positive test for coronavirus.
