Former Spanish international Juan Mata was interviewed recently and talked about Mourinho. When Mourinho took over Manchester United, the Red Devils lineup should have ushered in a small revolution to reverse the team's downturn. Mata's pros...
Former Spanish international Juan Mata was interviewed recently and talked about Mourinho.
When Mourinho took over Manchester United, the Red Devils lineup should have ushered in a small revolution to reverse the team's downturn. Mata's prospects were questioned at that time, not because he was insignificant in the team, but because of his past grudges with the coach. During the two working at Chelsea in 2014, the Portuguese coach gave up using the midfielder. This experience even made Mata's family worried and directly expressed concerns to the players.
Mata recently visited the podcast with former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster, and reiterated the past: "The first call I received was from my family, and my grandfather said to me at the time, 'You have to leave, what will happen next?'. And I responded, 'No, I want to stay and see what's going on.'. It's one of my proudest decisions in my career, stay calm and prove that I can adapt to his tactical system."
37-year-old Mata continued to recall: "In fact, we established a very natural relationship. When we won the honors together, I started every final and maintained an important position in the locker room. Later, my family had to admit 'Okay, you're right', but they did panic at that time."
Despite initial doubts, Mata eventually became a key player under Mourinho. During the two and a half years of cooperation, he played for Mourinho for nearly 100 games. What is quite dramatic is that after Mourinho left office in December 2018, Mata gradually lost his position, but he still stayed in the team until 2022 to transfer to Galatasaray.
