Manchester United moved eight points clear of Liverpool, who occupy the fifth spot, after a 4-2 win over archrivals Manchester City on Sunday.
Juan Mata was one of the scorers in this excellent game for the Red Devils. He has been in sparkling form ever since being recalled as the replacement for an ineffective Angel di Maria. Mata scored the crucial third goal for the team. Despite getting this crucial victory, Mata reckons that United should not forget the important task of securing Champions League football for next campaign.
After being in the fight with several clubs over the last few months, United are in a position to return to the Champions League automatically if they finish in the top three. They will have to go through the qualifiers if they finish in the fourth spot, which is currently occupied by City. Manuel Pellegrini’s men are four points behind United, but they have a much easier run-in in the rest of the campaign. United still have matches against Arsenal and Chelsea. As a result, the prospect of returning to the Champions League is not a foregone conclusion for United. With Mata in such sparkling form, it would be not surprising to see the club win four out of the next six matches.
“It’s one more step towards the Champions League, it’s a big win and a boost to the confidence.But Arsenal are a great team and City and Liverpool will stay fighting until the end.In the first 10 or 15 minutes City were brilliant, but after that we showed character and came back.It was a massive result and everyone from United is happy.The atmosphere was crazy, it’s something we will never forget. We have six games to go and have to keep going,” said Juan Mata.