Mata: It's Always Great To Score

Manchester United's match winner Juan Mata admitted "it's always great to score" after his goal against FC Rostov sealed the Reds' Europa League progress on Thursday night.

The Spaniard registered the only strike on the night at Old Trafford to send his team through to the quarter-finals of the competition with a 2-1 aggregate success. And Mata, who took his tally of goals for the season into double figures in all competitions, was pleased to have made another significant contribution to the cause.

“It’s always great to score,” he told MUTV. “It’s the best feeling that you can have in football, especially when it's an important goal like today, so I’m quite happy with the performance and with the goal.”

When asked how he felt after the game, he said: “Good, happy. We won, we go to the quarter-finals and that was our objective today.”

The Reds bossed proceedings throughout against the Russian outfit but had to be patient for the breakthrough, which arrived on 70 minutes when Mata turned home Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s cross, which was flicked into his path by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

It ensured Jose Mourinho’s men, who drew 1-1 in Rostov-on-Don in last week’s first leg, booked a place in the last eight and Mata was delighted the Reds overcame a tough test to progress.

“It was difficult. They played good and they pushed us, especially in the second half but I think in the first half we played good enough to try to score goals.

“We created some chances and the goal came in the second half but we are happy today because we showed how committed we are.”

United now switch attention to a fourth game in 10 days, on Sunday against Middlesbrough in the Premier League – and Mata feels the players can take confidence from a dominant display against Rostov into the weekend and the battle to secure a top-four finish.

“We know that we need to win a lot of games in the Premier League if you want to get into the Champions League positions. I think we can do it, starting from Sunday.

“It’s going to be difficult, [they will have] a new manager and probably a new start for the Middlesbrough players so let’s see.”