Mata: Old Trafford Will Give Us Strength

Each and every Monday during the season Manchester United ace Juan Mata pens a personal blog. In this week's entry he reflects on two wins over Watford and Arsenal, and looks ahead to our final Champions League group stage match against CSKA Moscow, and to the Manchester derby on Sunday...

Hi everyone,

Once again I’m writing before an important match and that’s because the fixture list in December is very busy - from now to the end of the year we have eight games scheduled. Last week we had two trips down south and we took six points from six. They were two difficult games, and two hard-fought wins, where David De Gea showed his immense quality in certain moments. The two victories give us energy and optimism ahead of the big challenges of this week.

I know that all of you have your mind on Sunday's derby, but before that we have to play the last group stage game in the Champions League, and it's a very important one. Right now all of our attention is on the game against CSKA Moscow - we would be making a big mistake otherwise. We are proud of what we have done so far in the group, with four wins in five games, and we want to finish the job with a win at Old Trafford. CSKA need to win to reach the next round, so there's no need to emphasise the importance and difficulty of the game. It's a Champions League night at Old Trafford - there's nothing more to add.

And later, on Sunday, it's the derby. The derby is always a special game. I remember the last derby against Manchester City at Old Trafford very well - last season it was in the EFL Cup. It was a very important win because it allowed us to move forward in the competition and, to eventually win it at Wembley. In this case it's the Premier League and - looking at the results City are obtaining so far, the game will demand a very good performance from us in order to win. Playing at Old Trafford will give us extra strength, and I'm sure the atmosphere at the stadium is going to be incredible.

I'm leaving you now - I hope to write again in seven days with very good news.

Have a good week.

Hugs,

Juan