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It’s been a great week!

Hi everyone,

These are happy days. That’s the feeling I’ve had during the entire week, since things have gone pretty well lately. It’s only the start of the season, but I believe that we deserve to enjoy such a good moment like this, and keep training hard to extend the good streak for a long time… As we can see, the day-to-day work is paying off, and I’m also happy for all of you, of course. It’s been a long time since you don’t experience a situation like this and we hope to keep giving you a good vibe.

As you know, during the week we won at home against Ipswich Town in the Capital One Cup, so we can carry on in this competition. I went home feeling happy because the team approached the game with the maximum respect for the opponent despite they are not in the Premier League, and from the first minute we were determined to win. With his great goal, Andreas Pereira showed everyone how talented he is. He’s eager to keep growing as a player and I’m sure he will keep contributing good things to the team.

And last Saturday we extended our streak in the Premiership to three consecutive wins by defeating Sunderland. It was a good game, we played almost all the time where we want to do it, on the opponent’s half of the pitch, and we scored the goals in key moments. Personally, I enjoyed it, especially in the second half, and I was lucky to score at the end. I’m feeling very comfortable in this start of the season, and as soon as the week goes by I’m already looking forward to the next one, to keep enjoying myself and competing…

Our victory, together with City’s defeat, took us to the top spot in the table, which is something new for me since I came to Manchester United. From the first day I was hoping to see the team in this place the club has occupied for so many times in the past. Our current position is a consequence of the good work, but right now, still in September, it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t keep working, and we do know that. We have ambition, but we are aware that the way ahead is very long and tough.

In the next few days we face two important games. The Champions League is back.

The first game is against Wolfsburg at home. We know we must fix our situation in the group after losing against PSV on week 1. In order to do so we count on Old Trafford, because we are sure our crowd will celebrate being back to the top competition in Europe. The Germans played very well last season, and they are having a good start in this one. I have seen them in a few games and they are a dangerous team with talented players I know very well, like Schürrle, a former team-mate. After Kevin de Bruyne’s exit they have made important signings like Draxler, and they keep being very competitive…

At the end of the week we will visit Arsenal. It’s a big game, no doubt, and we will fight to defend the top place before the international break. Personally, I like playing at the Emirates, and I’m sure it’s going to be a good game… I hope United win 😉

In Spain, I have to praise Villarreal and Celta, two teams in the top side of the table. They deserve credit for that. They both have skilled attacking players, and to tell the truth it is good for la Liga that they are fighting with the big teams, although, as I said before, we are still at the end of September. In this unusual week, Barcelona struggled to beat Las Palmas (I wish Leo Messi a speedy recovery), Real Madrid drew at home against Malaga in a superb football game, and Atletico lost against Villarreal. Also, Deportivo won their game; my friend Pedro Mosquera is there showing all his quality.

Before signing off I’d like to thank you for all your comments during the week. I hope you find the videos on my YouTube channel interesting (it’s the same for me to shoot them!) ;-). Thank you for being there, in the good and not so good moments. Have a nice week.

Hugs!

Juan Mata

Juan