Mata Excited For First China Visit

Ahead of Manchester United's visit to China next week for Tour 2016, presented by Aon, Juan Mata talks to ManUtd.com about facing City, preparing for the new campaign and why he's excited to meet the Reds' Chinese fans...

How much is everyone looking forward to the tour of China?
I’m sure everyone is excited in China that we are coming. Personally I have never been before so it will be my first time and I’m looking forward to feeling all the support and love from our fans in China. I know we have a lot of fans there.

Have the other players told you what to expect from the fans there?
Yes, and actually Mike the chef told me about a pre-season the club went on in China and he told it was a very nice trip and how the people were very warm and friendly and how they welcomed the players. We are looking forward to going because we know we have a large amount of fans there.

We’ll be playing in the International Champions Cup against Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund – how beneficial will it be to play against such tough opposition ahead of the new season?
They are two great clubs and when you play in this kind of competition you’re focused on getting fit and getting ready for the season. I think it’s a good experience and we’ll try to win as we did last season in the States. It’s always nice to win this tournament as you’re up against very prestigious rivals.

It’ll be the first ever Manchester derby to be played in China – what will that be like?
It’ll be special for sure. There are a lot of supporters for United and City in China. It’ll be a different derby but it’ll nice for the fans.

There’s no such thing as a friendly game between United and City is there?!
At this stage the most important thing isn’t the result but to get fit physically and mentally, but it’s difficult to have a friendly game against City or teams like this.

What did you make of Dortmund last season and what sort of test will they give us?
Dortmund have been playing great football over the last few years. They have been in a Champions League final and fighting with Bayern [Munich] for the Bundesliga. They have a great squad. I really like the way they play, I like to watch them on TV and it’ll be very tough because they are a very offensive team and a quality team.

What’s the first thing you think of when someone says pre-season?
The thing that used to come to my mind was a lot of running and not very fun things for a footballer! But when you think of pre-season now you think of these kinds of tours and the chance to visit different countries and learn about different cultures but the main thing is to train and to get ready for the long season ahead.

What’s the most enjoyable thing about pre-season and the tour?
Just to feel the love from the fans all around the world. We’ve been in the States twice since I’ve been at the club and it’s been incredible. We've played against Barcelona and Real Madrid and other great teams and we had more fans than anyone. It’s unbelievable to see how many fans we had in America and it’s going to be great to see all of our supporters in Asia.