Mata wants to know Valencia’s “secret” for Man Utd’s Moscow trip

 

In his latest blog, Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata has joked that he will ask teammate Antonio Valencia for his goalscoring secrets as they travel to face CSKA Moscow in the Champions League, per the club’s official website.

Valencia scored the winner on the last occasion the Red Devils visited CSKA. However, the more immediately obvious memory conjured by the trip to the Russian capital will be their competition win in 2008, in which they beat Chelsea on penalties to lift the second crown of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign.
Much has changed since then, most notably the manager. Following Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, and his replacement David Moyes’ sacking just under a year later, Louis van Gaal is now in charge. United returned to the Champions League this year after a season of absence.
Ahead of the game, Mata says he will seek out Ecuadorian winger Valencia for advice.
“As from today, we are already focused on the Champions League; you know it’s a very important competition for us,” he said.
“We have three points after the first two weeks and the game in Moscow could be crucial. Defeating CSKA would give us momentum ahead of the last three games.
“I’ve been told that Antonio Valencia scored the winner for United the last time the team visited CSKA, so we will ask him for the secret to beat them because they haven’t lost at home this season, both in the group stage and in the previous rounds.”

Mata has created 17 chances in the league this season.

The Red Devils look in fine shape overall this season, with Saturday’s victory over Everton keeping them third in the Premier League. Three points in their last European outing, at home to Wolfsburg, got their hopes of group stage progression back on track after an opening day defeat to PSV Eindhoven.

Juan Mata registered an unbelievable 98% passing accuracy facing Wolfsburg. No other player on the pitch had more.

Mata has been one of United’s standout performers recently, topping the club’s scoring chart with seven in 2015.

Juan Mata has created 17 chances in the Premier League this season, the most at Manchester United.