What a feeling! Mata delighted by finale
JUAN Mata, whose superb free-kick brought United back into the contest against Juventus last night, could not hide his delight after the Reds climbed back into second place in Group H following their dramatic late comeback.
“What a nice last five minutes,” he said. “It is a very, very good night for us to win here, to get the three points against Juventus in Italy is amazing.
“It was a very difficult game. They push a lot, they have fantastic players, they are a top team but in the last two chances we have, we score.
“It was a great pass from Bonucci and great finish from Cristiano (for Juventus’ opening goal), after that they had two or three clear chances to kill the game, but they didn’t, and in the last five minutes we came back and ‘game over’.
“It is a great feeling to win like that at the end.
“We came back, which is the most difficult thing, against a fantastic team, very difficult to play against, but this is football – but I will highlight the passion and personality of the team, the effort, and we kept believing.”
And Jesse Lingard couldn’t hide his delight at the win.
He said: “It was crazy, the attitude of the players – even at 1-0 down, we kept going and we showed mentality in a difficult stadium to come to. We were right in our heads.
“Getting fresh legs on really helped.
“I think the Champions League nights are what you live for and these are the games you want to play in. It’s a big, big result. It always adds confidence winning matches. We will take it into the next game and be more confident.
“The team pulled together and the staff are involved in it. We all come together as a family and do the job on the pitch. We have a great team spirit and we stick together through hard and good times and it puts us on a high.”