Mata Calls For Reaction To Liverpool Loss

Juan Mata believes Manchester United must regroup and focus on the Emirates FA Cup quarter-final with West Ham after the disappointment of Thursday's Europa League defeat at Liverpool.

The Reds' Spanish attacker is hopeful that the prospect of playing at Wembley in the semi-final will bring the best out of his team-mates as they look to end a run of two games without a win in all competitions.

Speaking after the 2-0 defeat at Anfield in the Europa League, Mata told MUTV: “We need to keep going and move on. In three days we have another massive game for us, the chance to play in a semi-final and a chance to win a title.

“The FA Cup is very special for all of us and it is against a very good team like West Ham. We need to recover as soon as possible and then focus just on the FA Cup. Then, after the weekend, we can look at the Europa League again.

“It was not a good performance and not a good result obviously," Mata continued. "But we need to move on, we need to win on Sunday. It is a chance to play at Wembley again.

“And then we come back in this Europa League competition, and try to do what they did to us, which is create the atmosphere and play with aggression and intensity. We have to do that next Thursday.”

The 27-year-old was also quick to praise David de Gea following his string of fine saves in the defeat at Liverpool, but admitted he was concerned by how much United relied on his Spanish team-mate's heroics.

“David was very good as always, and that’s not a very good sign for us because it means that they had even more chances to score," Mata said. "We need to move on, we need to learn from this game and we need to come back next week stronger.”

Mata captained United during the defeat to Liverpool, and he believes the Reds can still come back from the two-goal deficit at Old Trafford next Thursday.

“We never give up," Mata said. "We will try to start from the first minute and try to score. Last season I think we beat them 3-0, so we can do it. It’s going to be tough because they are a good team with a good manager, but we could do it with our fans at home.”