Mata: Hugs Are Back

Each and every Monday during the season, Manchester United star Juan Mata pens a personal blog. In his first entry for the 2017/18 campaign, he looks back on a memorable opening day at Old Trafford...

Hi everyone,

I’m back, we are back :-). After quite a few weeks since the last entry, it’s time for me to restart writing, to spend some time on Sunday nights in front of my computer to tell you how the week has been for me.

I’ve been doing this for five years now, during the season, and I find it very satisfying for two reasons, mainly: it’s a quiet moment of the week when you can get some time to reflect on many things, and I also know that you’re looking forward to reading this, or at least that’s what I get from your messages on the social media. Especially if the day has been like this one at Old Trafford.

When you are working in the pre-season, you know you must get ready for the official games. By August, you can’t wait any more for the Premier League to start. The first of our list of fixtures was at home, in front of our fans, and we couldn’t have had a better start. The team worked harmoniously, we had some spells of great football and our shots on goal were good. Personally, I enjoyed myself on the pitch and I believe all my team-mates did the same. Some of them (Nemanja and Romelu) made their debut as Reds in the Theatre of Dreams and I’m sure they will always keep very nice memories of this day. Same as I do with my game against Cardiff, already a few years ago.

It was a joy to have a game like this one, we needed it after failing to win the first title of the season in Skopje. I was really pleased to see our fans happy after the game, on their way home, and also your reactions on the social media, of course. I hope we can have many more games like that, even better if they are 37 :-). Obviously we know it will be complicated, because this is the toughest league in the world and every single game is a difficult test. These are the first three points, and they will be even more important at the end of the season.

Have a nice week.

Hugs,

Juan.