It did not require Louis van Gaal to confirm him as Manchester United's designated penalty taker to understand Juan Mata's growing status at Old Trafford these days – the Spaniard's efforts against Wolfsburg on Wednesday night were already evidence enough.
The 27-year-old was the difference between United winning and losing their second Group B fixture against Wolfsburg last night. It was his cross that struck Daniel Caligiuri's hand for the penalty that he – rather than Wayne Rooney – tucked away to cancel out Caligiuri's early goal for his fourth goal in seven games. It was then his brilliantly improvised, volleyed flick over the Wolfsburg defence that set up Chris Smalling to score the winning goal.
That was a moment of magic from Mata, who admitted afterwards that he had acted on a hunch. "The ball came to me from Bastian's [Schweinsteiger] shot and I tried to keep it moving and had the feeling there could be someone at the back post and Chris took it really well," he told UEFA.com. His radar had been virtually faultless throughout – UEFA's post-match statistics showed he managed a 95% pass completion rate and Memphis Depay was a particular beneficiary in the first half, Mata twice supplying him for goal attempts saved by Diego Benaglio.
With Anthony Martial's presence and pace up top creating space for United's other attackers, Mata seems to be relishing playing in this new-look attack and he reflected afterwards.
"The truth is I feel really good right now," Mata said. "
I just hope this moment continues and I can carry on in this vein. I am enjoying it, the team are winning and we're in good shape."
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