Mata Praises De Gea After Win Over Liverpool

Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata praised his compatriot David De Gea following yet another brilliant goalkeeping display in the 3-0 win over Liverpool.

De Gea, the winner of consecutive Player of the Month awards this season, continued his fine form to help United to a sixth successive victory in the Barclays Premier League.

After witnessing his fellow Spaniard's impressive saves to deny Raheem Sterling and Mario Balotelli at Old Trafford, Mata believes there are few players who can top United's no.1 on his current form.

“We scored three goals, but David was very important for us today," he told MUTV. "It’s tough to find anyone better than him, he’s been in top form since the beginning of the season and has saved a lot of points for us. Today, in a massive game, luckily he did that again.

"Also, when you have strikers like Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie at the other end, they can score at almost every opportunity. Right now, we’re being very efficient and putting away our chances, almost everything is going in the net! It’s great, and it’s a big result for us.

“When you’re on the pitch in a game like this, you can feel that millions of people are watching. It’s a big match for United fans, and from the first minute we tried to show that. With today’s performance, I think we did so very well.”

Mata scored just before half-time to double United's lead after Rooney opened the scoring early on, ghosting in at the back post to head the ball past Brad Jones.

The midfielder feels that the Reds can improve on performances despite the recent run of good form, but says that grinding out results is an important quality to possess.

“Obviously the second goal was very important, because it’s better to go into half-time with a two-goal lead," he added. "I was offside, which is something I didn’t realise at the time, but noticed after the game. I think plenty of goals come from the back-post area, so I have to be trying to get into that space.

“I think today's result was important after five victories in a row, and now we’ll be looking for a seventh [against Aston Villa]. I think there are still ways to improve, but we’re winning and that’s very important, even when you’re not at your best. I think we’re doing a lot of things right, but can still improve."