Perhaps it’s time for the fantasy football enthusiasts among us to ditch the Hazards, Toures and Coutinhos of the world and make Juan Mata captain ASAP.
The Manchester United midfielder scored his third goal in two games as the Red Devils came from behind to claim their first points in Group B with a 2-1 victory over Wolfsburg.
The Spaniard has been a stalwart on the right side of United’s attack this season and he’s showing the form that earned him the Player of the Year award at Chelsea in 2012 and 2013.
It turns out that Mata has been either scorer or provider in almost half United’s total goals this season which highlights the vital role he plays for Louis van Gaal.
Important win for MUFC against a decent side. Juan Mata has scored or assisted 45% of all MUFC goals this season.
— Andy Mitten (@AndyMitten) September 30, 2015
Mata had a game to remember against Wolfsburg and the stats show that he had a relatively flawless 90 minutes. We’ll forgive him the 2% of times that he failed to find a teammate.
Juan Mata's game by numbers vs. Wolfsburg:
98% pass accuracy
5 chances created
3 shots
1 goal
1 magical assist pic.twitter.com/Mfa4KZVBBQ— Squawka (@Squawka) September 30, 2015
He’s been United’s most creative player in the Champions League thus far and is in the top three of players in terms of chance creation.
Most chances created in the Champions League this season: Mathieu Valbuena (10) Thiago Alcantara (10) Juan Mata (9) pic.twitter.com/TmGpC2IJfL
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) September 30, 2015
Some things can’t be expressed through statistics though. Like the absolute filthiness of this assist.
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