{"id":35067,"date":"2026-04-27T11:45:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juanmata8.com\/noticia\/juan-mata-returns-in-top-condition-ahead-of-the-title-play-off\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T11:59:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T09:59:03","slug":"juan-mata-returns-in-top-condition-ahead-of-the-title-play-off","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/juanmata8.com\/en\/new\/juan-mata-returns-in-top-condition-ahead-of-the-title-play-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Juan Mata returns in top condition ahead of the title play-off"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Juan Mata made his return in a winning performance and is already focused on the title play-off. Melbourne Victory will face Sydney FC in a single-leg knockout tie. Having recovered from an elbow injury, the Spaniard played the final ten minutes as his side closed the regular season with a 0\u20132 win away to Western Sydney Wanderers.   <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mata\u2019s former club had chances to take the lead, but Melbourne Victory kept a clean sheet and sealed the result after the break through goals from Santos and Vergos. The three points secured a fourth-place finish, meaning <strong>they will host the play-off against Sydney FC<\/strong>.  <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It marked the end of a strong regular season campaign, with Mata\u2019s side collecting 40 points. They finished as the third-highest scoring team in the competition, with Mata contributing five goals and 13 assists. The Asturian was the player directly involved in the most goals.   <\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The focus now shifts to overcoming a single-leg tie against a club of Sydney FC\u2019s stature, the competition\u2019s best defensive side. Melbourne Victory have earned the right to play at home, where AAMI Park is expected to see an excellent turnout, with ticket prices starting at \u20ac22 (\u20ac8 for young fans), as the league continues to keep these fixtures accessible. <strong>The match will be played on Saturday, May 2, at 19:40 local time.<\/strong> The semi-finals, played over two legs, will take place during the second and third weeks of May.    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Juan Mata made his return in a winning performance and is already focused on the title play-off. Melbourne Victory will face Sydney FC in a single-leg knockout tie. Having recovered from an elbow injury, the Spaniard played the final ten minutes as his side closed the regular season with a 0\u20132 win away to Western Sydney Wanderers.   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":35065,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","categoria-noticia":[],"class_list":["post-35067","noticia","type-noticia","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Juan Mata returns in top condition ahead of the title play-off - Juan Mata<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/juanmata8.com\/en\/new\/juan-mata-returns-in-top-condition-ahead-of-the-title-play-off\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Juan Mata returns in top condition ahead of the title play-off - Juan Mata\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Juan Mata made his return in a winning performance and is already focused on the title play-off. Melbourne Victory will face Sydney FC in a single-leg knockout tie. 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