David De Gea is, in the opinion of many, the best goalkeeper at the 2018 World Cup – which is to say he’s the best goalkeeper in the world.

But he made what is likely to be the worst goalkeeping error of the 2018 World Cup late in the first half of Spain’s game against Portugal on Friday. He let a Cristiano Ronaldo shot squirm off his hands into the net:

The goal put Portugal ahead of Spain 2-1. Ronaldo also got the first Portuguese goal from the penalty spot. Diego Costa had equalized 20 minutes later. But Ronaldo, with help from De Gea, has Portugal ahead at halftime.

De Gea, interestingly, might have an excuse ready, because he already (unknowingly) made it three months ago. In March, he complained about the World Cup ball.

“It’s really strange,” De Gea said of the adidas Telstar 18. “It could have been made a lot better.”

Still, though, that’s not a valid excuse for this type of error. It was eerily similar to the one England goalkeeper Rob Green conceded to the U.S. and Clint Dempsey at the 2010 World Cup:

We’ll see if De Gea’s error proves to be similarly costly.

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Henry Bushnell covers global soccer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Question? Comment? Email him at henrydbushnell@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter @HenryBushnell, and on Facebook.

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