Mata Confident Ahead Of Benfica Test

Each and every Monday during the season, Manchester United star Juan Mata pens a personal blog. In his latest entry, the Spanish maestro reflects on the draw at Anfield and the upcoming trips to Benfica in the Champions League, and to Huddersfield in the Premier League...

Hi everyone,

This time I can’t start this post talking about a win, unlike most of the previous weeks this season, but I keep being optimistic and I believe I have reasons for that. I’m writing to you at the end of a day off, a nice Autumn day which has been ideal to switch off. In my case it was with a good walk by Peak District, an area of England that I highly recommend and it’s not far from home. The draw at Anfield on Saturday was the consequence of the team’s hard work and solidarity. Obviously, we wanted to win, but it’s not a bad result given the circumstances. We added one point and got a clean sheet, and now we are already focused on the Champions League.

On Wednesday we visit the Estadio da Luz in the third game of the group stage. We are looking forward to extending our good run after getting six valuable points in the first two matches. Personally, Benfica brings back good memories for me. I played against them in 2012 in the Champions League quarter-finals and that season I was lucky to win the title with Chelsea. The following year, 2013, we also played them in the final of the Europa League, at the Amsterdam Arena, and won the title again.

Despite these good memories I don’t want to be overconfident. They are a team with very good players and a big supporting crowd. They need the points and we will have to be at our best in order to get a positive result. At the end of the day this is the Champions League and you have to beat great teams if you want to go far.

Next weekend we will be back in the Premier League with our third away game in a row, this time against Huddersfield. I’ve never played in that stadium so I will have to add it to the ‘Matamundi’. Again, we will have to be really competitive there, but the truth is we are doing it this season and that’s why I said above that I feel optimistic.

I'm leaving you now. I hope we can have a positive return to the Champions League. Have a nice week.

Hugs,

Juan Mata