SPAIN | DE GEA
Diego Costa's exactly the same for club and country - De Gea
The goalkeeper faced the media ahead of this week's clash with Albania. "In other countries, they understand when a goalkeeper make a mistake".
Costa is how he is
David de Gea faced the media on Saturday evening as Spain prepare to take on Albania in their second 2018 World Cup qualifier of the international break. The Manchester United was asked what he thought of Diego Costa's fiesty performance in Thursday's meeting with Italy in which he was reprimanded by Pepe Reina. De Gea replied that the striker "brings a lot to the national team and behaves exactly the same with the national team as he does with his club".
Keeper's mistakes viewed differently
De Gea also spoke about a rare fumble from Gianluigi Buffon which led to Vitolo's opener in Turin and pointed out how all of the spotlight seem to fall on the keeper whenever they get things wrong: "Perhaps in Italy and England, people understand when a goalkeeper makes a mistake", he said.
Albania, no pushovers warns Thiago
Joining the Spain keeper in attending the media was Thiago Alcántara who warned of the dangers La Roja will be up against when they meet Albania on Tuesday. "Albania's level of football is as high as that of any other team and they are more than capable of pulling a surprise. Albania are a perfect example of a team who is in progresion", the Bayern midfielder said.
