Manchester United star Juan Mata has issued warning to his teammate ahead of the crucial second-leg Champions League play-off against Club Brugge.
Louis van Gaal will take his men to Belgium for the return leg as the first leg at Old Trafford saw the Red Devils make a comeback to win the tie 3-1. Michael Carrick’s own goal gave Brugge an early lead before summer signing Memphis Depay’s brace put United in driving seat.
The Dutchman saw his side settle for a 0-0 draw against Newcastle United in the last league tie on Saturday. The lack of goals has cost United three points against the Magpies as they dominated the game with possession and had better stats than their opponents.
The former Chelsea playmaker was disappointed with his side’s display against Newcastle, but was delighted as Van Gaal’s side maintained a third straight clean sheet in the league.
“It’s still August but the activity is very intense already and there is no time for celebration or mourning. As you know, our goal last week was to keep our winning streak, but we couldn’t make it,” Mata wrote in his weekly blog.
“We got a good result against Club Brugge, especially if you take into account that things had turned bad after an unfortunate goal against us.”
“Then the team showed character to come back, but we know there is still a lot of work to do in the second leg this coming Wednesday. We are really looking forward to it, we want to play a good game and seal our passport to the top competition in Europe.
“As I was saying, we weren’t able to get another three points in the Premier League. The goalless draw against Newcastle last Saturday left us with a bad taste; personally I think we deserved to win but that doesn’t count… In my opinion the team had spells of our best football so far this season, and we created enough chances to score at least one goal.
“From a personal point of view, I felt very comfortable and was able to participate a lot, but I went home enraged for not being able to win, same as my team-mates.
“We need to win this kind of games if we want to be more consistent than last season… The good news is that we are strong in defence and we haven’t conceded a goal in the Premier League. Seven points out of nine is not a bad start, we have to be positive and keep moving forward.”
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