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#4 Real Madrid 1-1 Manchester United - UEFA Champions League
During the 2012/13 season, the round of 16 draw of the UEFA Champions League saw the two heavyweights pitted against each other. There were many narratives that the fans were looking forward to, one of them being the return of Cristiano Ronaldo to Old Trafford.
For de Gea though, this was even more personal as he was an Atletico Madrid youth product. In the first leg of the tie at Santiago Bernebeau, he put in a great performance and denied one of the best attacking teams in world football precisely 8 times. The match ended 1-1 as he stopped players like Fabio Coentrao, Angel Di Maria and Gonzalo Higuain from scoring.
Sir Alex Ferguson praised him for his incredible "coming of age" performance, one which made him a hero from a villain. He was now thoroughly established in this team as the number one goalkeeper, with match-winning performances against Sunderland and Manchester City preceding this encounter.
A performance of such magnitude against bitter rivals from his days in Spain was just a cherry on the top.
He would later go on to win the Premier League title and finish the season with 11 clean sheets, earning himself a place in the PFA Premier League team of the year.
