Juan Mata on what scoring goals for Man Utd means to him

THE PASS BEFORE AN ASSIST IS VITAL

“The satisfaction of assisting is also big and great. If you make a great pass and you leave your striker or whoever with a one-on-one with the goalkeeper or even, like I said before, for a tap-in, you hope they will score and then they will come and celebrate with you! [Smiles] It doesn’t reach the feeling of scoring a goal unless it’s an incredible assist or you had some incredible play from one or two or three players as well.

“I always speak about the world we live in now which is based on stats, people try to make stats about everything – tackles, physical performances, assists, goals… but for me there are some kind of assists which you cannot measure and for me they are very important – it’s the pass before the last assist, especially if you break the defence with that pass. It doesn’t count as an assist but most of the time it’s more important than the actual last touch before the goal.

“So in a world of stats we should try to make that stat count because I value it from players and I think people will value it too.”

Read more from Juan in the January 2021 issue of Inside United which is on sale on 15 December. Order it online now.