Juan Mata at Chelsea.

Mata: Liverpool game has a red spot on our calendar

Tuesday 19 February 2019 09:00

Juan Mata has revealed the Manchester United players - much like the fans - always look out for our fixtures against Liverpool in the calendar.

The Spaniard was among the starters at Stamford Bridge on Monday evening when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men earned a brilliant 2-0 win over Chelsea in the Emirates FA Cup fifth round. 

Now, the attention has turned to Sunday’s colossal Premier League match against the Merseysiders.

“It's one of those games we have in our calendar with a red spot waiting for it,” Juan told the press after our victory in London, where he produced a disciplined performance against his old club.

“It's one of the big ones and we want to win. We play at home and hopefully it will be a very good day for us at Old Trafford.”
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Though the Reds’ suffered a first defeat under caretaker manager Solskjaer in Europe last week, they will be looking to maintain the unbeaten domestic record when Jurgen Klopp’s side visit on Sunday.

Knocking FA Cup holders Chelsea out of the competition with our first win at Stamford Bridge since 2012 was not only excellent preparation, but also the best response to the disappointment of last Tuesday’s result, according to Mata.

“It was the perfect reaction to our defeat to Paris Saint-Germain,” Juan added. “It's never easy to come to Stamford Bridge, to win against Chelsea, to not concede any goals, to play some good football. It was a very good evening for us and gives us a lot of confidence for the next games.”

United face another away trip to a Premier League side in the quarter-final of the FA Cup, a visit to Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Mata is under no illusions that it will be another tough tie.

“Their manager is doing a very good job there,” Juan said. “They play good football, so it's difficult to play against them, even more away. 

“But if we want to win the FA Cup we need to try to beat everyone. We've done that with Arsenal and Chelsea, two top teams, and now we will go to Wolverhampton with the same ambition.”

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