Read Mata speaks on tomorrows game and plans

Mata's blog Hi everyone,

Today my team-mates are packing for the trip to Athens, but I can’t

go with them so I’ll stay in Manchester and support them from home… As you know, since I played the group stage with Chelsea I can’t participate in the same competition with my new team. It’s a

shame because a Champions League match is always special and I

keep good memories of this tournament that I was able to win just a

couple of seasons ago. I have noticed that my team-mates are very excited about going through little by little. I

hope we can do it. I’ll be supporting United from here as any other fan. At Karaiskakis, the team will face a tough opponent: Olympiakos are both the leaders and the reigning champions in Greece. Mitroglou -their goal scorer-

andWeiss left the club in January, but they have signed two good

players such as Valdez and Hernán

Pérez.Olympiakos have a Spanish

flavour with several players that have been in la Liga before: Roberto,

Saviola, Chori, David Fuster or Joel Campbell. And the same can be

said about the staff: the manager is Míchel, whom I met in Real

Madrid Castilla. I’ll bit my nails nervously

watching the game on telly. I will feel the same as you. We feel encouraged ahead of this game thanks to some good training

days and a very important win at Crystal

Palace. These three points gave us a lot of confidence. I think the team

was solid and it was a clear victory. Me, personally, after five games with the team I feel there is more and more understanding with my team-mates on the pitch. The truth is, with a squad of such quality everything is easier.

The game was special for Rooney after his recent renewal, and he

was very happy. He deserves it; he is a model player in this club and

it’s a privilege to have him with us now and in the coming years.

On Sunday I watched football at home,

including some Saturday games from different leagues. In Spain, Real

Sociedad’s victory over Barcelona was remarkable, especially for the power shown by the Local team. If they are inspired, Real Sociedad can beat anyone. I think thesigning of Canales has been a good move and they played

very well. Real Madrid, meanwhile, beat Elche with a wide score. My friend

Lombán and his team-mates did a good job and shown personality

on the pitch, but a team such asReal Madrid only needs half a chance

to score. Atlético played at Pamplona. None of their big rivals had won there.

Osasuna had managed to get one point against both Real Madrid and

Barcelona, and now they beat Atlético with authority, leaving Real

Madrid in the top spot of the table. The fight will go on until the final

week… I’d like to mention the contest we started in my last entry.As you

know, the idea was to be creative and send an image with a number

8, my new number. And you did really well! I have had a great time

having a look at your works, that’s why I have created an album on

Facebook with some of them. But I have to choose only one as a winner and that is rfspt758 Kayo We will send to you my shirt with my signature this week!

Thank you very much to all of you! You are

amazing, seriously.

Big hug!

Juan

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