From the training pitches to the canteen, Juan Mata has noted a surge in electricity at Manchester United’s Carrington training base this week.
‘It’s special,’ he grins. ‘From Monday, Mike the chef is on at us “beat them, beat them, beat them”.
‘I can tell you that the manager loves these games. We feel it from him, all week in this kind of massive game, and I think he told you he really enjoys that pressure, these big moments.’
Juan Mata celebrates after scoring against Crystal Palace before the international break
United boss Jose Mourinho ‘loves’ big games like the one with Liverpool, according to Mata
Mata insists United are heading to Anfield to beat their rivals in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off
These are encouraging times because United — for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson retired — appear equipped for a genuine challenge on the Premier League title. Jose Mourinho’s team are going toe-to-toe with Manchester City.
Saturday lunchtime brings United’s first fixture this season against the established top six. In the equivalent away matches last season, United took only two points from 15, and scored just one goal.
‘Something we need to improve,’ Mata insists. ‘Definitely. We want to win this game. We don’t want to draw. We need to score, and win, that’s something we have to do in those games.’
When not fixated on Liverpool this week, Mata has been reassuming his role as football’s chief philanthropist.
In his ambassadorial role for Common Goal on Thursday evening, Mata launched an exhibition at the National Football Museum. He continues to encourage fellow footballers to donate one per cent of their salary to a solidarity fund to help some of the world’s poorest regions.
The good news is that the first English player will be announced this week — with Swansea’s Alfie Mawson supposedly keen — and on Friday night Hoffenheim’s Julian Nagelsmann was confirmed as the first manager, joining Mata, Italian Giorgio Chiellini and German Mats Hummels.
Mata with a number of the youngsters he invited over to visit Manchester this week
Mata poses with kids from Mumbai in Manchester United’s home dressing room at Old Trafford
He shared various images on social media via his account and the Oscar Foundation
They all crammed into a photo as Mata gave them an all access tour of Old Trafford
Mata is quietly confident some of his Manchester United team-mates will join the movement. Ander Herrera was in attendance at the museum, along with former team-mate, Everton’s Morgan Schneiderlin.
‘I need more conversations with my team-mates, explain what we do and why it would be good for them to join,’ said Mata. ‘I’m sure many will understand and want to be in. It’s not about obligating someone to do anything. It’s just, “We are doing this and if you want to join, great, because the more there are, the better the help”.’
Mata’s motivation came from a summer trip to India with his girlfriend, Evelina Kamph, who is a respected osteopath. The charity this week organised a trip for a group of Indian children from the Mumbai slums to spend the week in England and Mata himself took them on a tour of Old Trafford on Thursday. For the children, it was their first time on an aeroplane or even sleeping in a real bed.
Mata says: ‘They are from a slum. Water and electricity are in a very basic way or not developed at all. The conditions they live in are not as we understand it in Europe. At all. The Oscar Foundation that we support created a classroom, English lessons, a place where they can go, feel safe, develop themselves as a person and play football.
Former Chelsea midfielder Mata was inspired during a visit to India last summer
Mata poses with girlfriend Evelina Kamph after landing in Mumbai earlier this year
Mata also unveiled an exhibition at Old Trafford of photos that were taken of him in Mumbai
Morgan Schneiderlin and Ander Herrera both got involved with the visit on Thursday
Mata was happy to take the children pitchside for photographs at the Theatre of Dreams
‘When I was walking through a maze of narrow streets, they are actually homeless. The people, kids, lost in the street — this is things you see in the movies, but when you go there and see, it gives you a different perspective of what the other types of life is possible in the world.
‘Sometimes, we get into a routine, which is training, travelling, playing, and you get into a mind-set which is all very quick, and you don’t have time to step back and think “listen I am playing for Manchester United, I am very lucky”. It’s good to have that perspective.
‘I still get angry when we lose, or when I don’t play good, I am angry with myself because I didn’t enjoy it or didn’t perform the way I should.’
Mata’s first experience of this fixture was a 3-0 home defeat that marked the nadir of David Moyes’ reign as manager but he has happier memories of Anfield visits.
In 2015, he scored both goals, including a marvellous bicycle kick, as United won 2-1. He subsequently provided the cross for a Wayne Rooney winner the following year.
Mata scored a stunning bicycle kick in a 2-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield in March, 2015
The Spaniard also netted the first goal in United’s 2015 victory against rivals Liverpool
His mother Marta was in attendance on Thursday evening and will likely be in the stands at Anfield on Saturday. She watched on, proud, as her son spent time with the children.
Mata says he owes much to his mother and to his late maternal grandfather, Manuel Garcia Llamas. In Mata’s teenage days, his grandfather would make the 560-mile round trip from Oviedo to Madrid in a day to watch his grandson.
‘He loved football. He tried to play, He was not very good. I felt that he showed through me, what he’d liked to have done.
‘When I scored at Anfield, he probably went out from where he lived, went out with friends, and told everyone have you seen what my grandson has done? He always used to do that! Every goal I score is for my family.’