David de Gea surpasses Peter Schmeichel for Man Utd clean sheets
David de Gea was made to work for it but ultimately kept the 179th clean sheet of his Manchester United career against Leicester City on Sunday afternoon, surpassing the club-record tally of Red Devils icon Peter Schmeichel.
Twice in the opening 25 minutes, De Gea's reactions were put to the test as Manchester United groggily trundled through the opening exchanges of their Premier League encounter.
Harvey Barnes had the goal at his mercy after eight minutes, strolling into United's area as Leicester took full advantage of Casemiro's absence from the hosts' midfield. However, the Foxes frontman was rebuffed from point-blank range by the blur of De Gea's right arm.
Iheanacho evaded the vague attempts at marking from United's defenders not long later, heading Timothy Castagne's cross into the turf and towards goal. With just fractions of a second to react, De Gea flung himself towards his right post, pawing the ball away. Iheanacho was so convinced his effort couldn't have been rebuffed that he pleaded for the referee to check his watch to ensure it didn't, in fact, cross the line. There was no buzz.
Marcus Rashford scored on either side of half-time as United eased towards an ultimately comfortable victory sealed by Jadon Sancho in the 61st minute. However, Erik ten Hag's side owed a great deal to their shot-stopper for living up to his job title.
De Gea's record-breaking shutout was United's tenth Premier League clean sheet of the season. The Red Devils mustered just eight across the entirety of the previous campaign.
Sunday afternoon was not the first time De Gea's name has been scrawled into the record books this season. By guarding the posts in Manchester United's victory over Leeds United in mid-February, De Gea became the first non-British player to record 400 Premier League appearances.
Schmeichel managed to keep 178 clean sheets in just 386 games for United across all competitions, 134 fewer matches than De Gea needed to break the Dane's record.
One statistic that Schmeichel can still hold over De Gea is his goal tally. The 1999 Champions League winner famously scored for the Red Devils against Russian side Rotor Volgograd in the second leg of a UEFA Cup tie in 1995. Schmeichel headed in an 89th-minute corner delivered by Ryan Giggs but United still bowed out of the competition on away goals.
De Gea has never scored in his senior career and has never even taken a shot for Manchester United.
Statistics from Sky Sports Statto.