Hi everyone,
To make the most of the international break last Saturday I was in Asturias, my home region. It’s always good to go home. I was able to see my family and friends and I also had the chance to receive an award on behalf of Common Goal. It was a truly wonderful day and receiving the prize that carries the name of Enrique Castro ‘Quini’ is always special and makes sure that the legacy of ‘Brujo’ lives on. A legend, regardless of what team you support, and we keep on learning from him.
? @JuanMata8: “Es un placer enorme recibir este premio. Quini es una leyenda por encima de colores. Para mí es un privilegio rendirle tributo. Gracias a la @rfef y a la @asturfutbol por reconocer la labor de @CommonGoalOrg“#SomosFútbol#SomosFederación pic.twitter.com/Gi2VXA2p13
— RFEF (@rfef) 7 de septiembre de 2019
Now it is time to get back in Manchester and focus once again on the Premier League. We are all looking forward to training together on Thursday to prepare for Saturday’s game against Leicester. Over the last few days we have seen how the English national team, with various of my teammates involved, have continued to move positively towards qualification, as have Spain. Another player who continues to show his spectacular form is Daniel James, who scored in a friendly against Belarus after picking up a few goals at the start of the campaign. Hopefully on Saturday he will continue that run.
Moving away from football and instead talking tennis, last weekend we saw another historic moment courtesy of Rafa Nadal and Daniil Medvedev. It was a final that will be remembered for a long time, and once again showed the physical and mental strength that Rafa Nadal has which I’ve always admired. On and off the court he is a role model and has continued to play at an extraordinarily high level for many years. The most difficult thing isn’t to arrive at the top, but to keep yourself there and he is the perfect example of that. He has overcome difficulties on the way in the form of injuries, but here’s still there, adding to his legacy. Without doubt he is a sportsman that teaches lessons with or without a racket.
I’ll leave it there for today. Thank you as always for your support, and I hope you all have a good week.
Hugs,

Juan
Any trouble sleeping? I’ve got the solution for you. Happy to announce I’ll be releasing my book later in the month. I hope you’ll enjoy it and not only for the sake of sleeping better ?✍️? #SuddenlyAFootballer pic.twitter.com/Wa9ene8KVO
— Juan Mata García (@juanmata8) 9 de septiembre de 2019
P.S : Thank you for your comments on the book that I am going to have published at the end of the month. I hope that you like it and you don’t only use it to help you fall asleep! I’ll tell you a bit more about it each week…