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Manchester United maestro Juan Mata reacts to win over Chelsea

The Red Devils edged the Blues 2-1 in a hard-fought encounter at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Manchester United maestro Juan Mata reacts to win over Chelsea

Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata (Photo: AFP)

Juan Mata may have played no part in Manchester United’s 2-1 win over Chelsea on Sunday, but the Spanish midfielder expressed that every game against his former side is ‘special’ as he revealed the atmosphere at Old Trafford lifted with the result.

“It’s just a few hours since I came home from Old Trafford after playing Chelsea, a game that is special and will always be special for me. It was an even game, very intense too, and we managed to win and to get three points that are very important for us,” Mata penned on his blog on Monday.

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Mata was an unused substitute as United came from behind to register a vital home win, with goals from Romelu Lukaku and Jesse Lingard making sure of the three points after Blues winger Wilian had fired the visitors into a first-half lead.

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“A victory at home is always more satisfying because as soon as you leave the dressing room you see everybody around, your fans…, and they all have happy faces. It’s a great feeling, even more after a comeback against such a good team. We were able to recover despite Willian’s goal to get the three points that keep us in the second place of the table.”

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United weren’t in the best of shape heading into the clash with Antonio Conte’s men, for a goalless draw in their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 first leg tie against Sevilla had let plenty of fans miffed as the Red Devils were largely second-best over the course of 90 minutes.

Having won the competition thrice, expectations among the United faithful are high that they will make a deep run this season, at the very least.

“This win puts an end to a crucial week in which we also visited Sevilla in the last 16 round of the Champions League. The goalless draw will demand a great game from us at Old Trafford, as we already knew, if we want to get to the next round. With the support of our fans, I’m convinced that we will give everything to make it, even though Sevilla is a very talented team as we know,” the former Valencia man opined as he singled out Sevilla’s fans for praise.

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“By the way, I take this opportunity to thank Sevilla’s supporters at the Sánchez-Pizjuán for their treatment and applause when I was substituted. It was nice.”

United host the Spanish outfit at Old Trafford for the second leg on March 13 and are favourites to progress to the quarters despite not having scored an away goal.

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