Mata: Top Spot Is Our Aim

Manchester United forward Juan Mata penned his latest weekly blog reflects on the win at Watford, a victory he describes as "more than three points", and says the Reds are focused on ending securing top spot in the Champions League and Premier League...

Hi everyone,

We could make an important step to finish first in our group in the Champions League and we could climb to the top of the Premier League. This is how we face this new week. We're feeling optimistic, as always, and our goal is to win both games and to have the best possible start to the busy period ahead. Obviously it's going to be tough, and we will need to be at our highest level to beat PSV and Leicester. But let's go little by little.

About our last game against Watford, it's never easy to have the full squad available after an international break. We're not being very lucky with trips and injuries this season so we went to Watford and the team had several changes with respect to the previous game, but still we were hoping to get the three points. And we did it. I wouldn't say it was a nice football game, but I think that in the first half, and especially in the first few minutes, we were the better team and as a consequence we got a good goal from Memphis. In the second half we had some chances, but it's true that they did good pressing and we couldn't play the ball and control the game. They converted a late penalty but we showed great courage to score again before the final whistle, and following other results we climbed to second position of the table. I'd like to highlight that we kept the team spirit until the end, and I hope we do it throughout the whole season. A tough win like this one, when you don't play very good, means more than three points.

Our next rival in the Premier League, as I said before, is Leicester. Claudio Ranieri's team is having a remarkable season and the proof is that they are top of the league. In particular Vardy (who has equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy's record of scoring in 10 consecutive games) and Mahrez are outstanding, playing at an exceptional level - we will have to be very careful with them.

But before that it's time for another Champions League night at Old Trafford against PSV Eindhoven. We lost there in the first week and now we want to get the three points that would take us closer to the next stage, and to live another special European night in the Theatre of Dreams.

Have a nice week.

Hugs,
Juan

Read Juan's latest blog in full at kicca.com/juanmata8.

Credit: manutd.com