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Nine finals (hopefully ten)

Hi everyone,

Today I’m writing from Spain, at the end of a different week due to the international break. I have spent some time seeing friends in very different places. This is the last break until the end of the season so, as you can imagine, it’s a good way to switch off before facing the last few weeks of the competition at full speed.

Having a look at the calendar I see that there are only nine games remaining, hopefully ten, because that will mean that we made it to the FA Cup final which will take place at Wembley on the 19th of May. So that’s our goal: playing ten games from here to the end of the season.

The first one is next Saturday, back to the Premier League. We will play at Old Trafford against Swansea and a victory would be very important to show that we want to maintain our position at the table. Then, we will have plenty of time to think about the derby and the rest of the games ahead.

Last week we bade farewell to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who will continue his career in the LA Galaxy. It’s been a privilege to share the dressing room with one of the best strikers of the last 15 years, a footballer with a special personality on and off the pitch, who has played in different leagues and always in big clubs. Good luck in the MLS, Zlatan, I’m sure that you will keep scoring goals and enjoying football for a long time. Lycka till!

Meanwhile, the Common Goal movement keeps moving forward and reaching more and more people. This very Monday we’re going to welcome a new member, someone who shares with us the idea that football is a very powerful tool to improve the lives of millions of people. We continue to advance strongly, thank you for your support to the movement!

Talking now about other sports, Formula 1 is back, with my fellow countryman Fernando Alonso back to the top positions. It seems this is going to be a really fun season to watch, and I wish him the best of lucks.

I’m signing off now. As always, I hope you have a great week.

Hugs,

Juan Mata

Juan

PS: Not everything has been positive news this week. Sadly, the son of my former team-mate in Valencia CF Santi Cañizares passed away. From here I’d like to send all my support and strength to his family for their tragic loss.