Midfield maestro Juan Mata is ‘still smiling’ after netting a brace in Manchester United’s comfortable 4-0 victory against a Newcastle side that crumbled after conceding.
The young Spaniard broke the deadlock after 39 minutes when he placed a superb free-kick over the Magpies’ wall and into the top left of Rob Elliot’s goal.
The fine strike spelled the start of an enjoyable afternoon for the Old Trafford outfit which the 25-year-old celebrated with his compatriot David De Gea.
Juan Mata wrote on his blog: “The truth is, after a game like Saturday’s, I realise once again how nice football can be, and how much you enjoy the few days following a victory and a good performance. I still have a smile on my face.
“You may wonder about my celebration with De Gea. The reason is that we had been practising free-kicks the day before and David said I was going to score against Newcastle because I was misfiring all my shots. And then it happened.”
The Spaniard, a £37.1million January signing from Chelsea, doubled his tally with a cool finish from Javier Hernandez’s pass five minutes after the restart and Newcastle, who had enjoyed a fair share of the proceedings, simply folded.
United completed the routine victory on Tyneside which was their 10th away win of the campaign – giving them one more victory on the road than rivals Liverpool and Manchester City.
Mata wrote: “I scored and enjoyed on the pitch again, I wish the streak goes on until the end of the season. As I said after the game, I have a very good understanding with my teammates and I was also very happy with Chicha (Javier Hernandez) and Adnan’s (Januzaj) goals.
“I was really pleased with the effort made by all players to win, and it’s a key victory to try to climb on the table and to go to Germany full of confidence.”
Mata hopes that the momentum gained from the weekend’s performance will help his new side as they travel to Bayern Munich on Wednesday, for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
“This victory gives us a lot of energy for our game in Munich on Wednesday,” Mata wrote.
“In the first leg, the support from Old Trafford was our power to cope with such a tough game. It was a great night that I had to enjoy from the stands.
“On Wednesday I’ll be supporting from home, in front of the TV, aware that the Allianz Arena is one of the toughest stadiums in Europe. But I am also aware that we are Manchester United and I’m sure we can make it through.”
The Red Devils recorded a respectable 1-1 draw with the Bavarian side last week but travel to the Allianz arena as considerable underdogs.
Main image courtesy of Bwin via YouTube, with thanks.
