Mata hails win over Real Madrid as ‘positive’ experience

Juan Mata is happy at the “positive” experience of Manchester United’s preseason tour following a 2-1 win over Real Madrid.

United’s preparations for the new season have been overshadowed by manager Jose Mourinho’s comments about a lack of new signings, while the future of Anthony Martial also appears unclear. However, they ended it with a victory against the European champions.

“I think we competed well especially after the accumulation of minutes that some of us have, but I think it was positive,” Mata told ESPN FC. “A positive game. A good experience for the boys that came in the second half so [I am] happy.”

United have been without several of their first team while in the U.S., having relied heavily on their young players. However, Mata says the senior players are ready for the start of the campaign and believes the kids will have benefited from the experience.

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“I always feel positive,” Mata added. “Obviously we didn’t have a lot of our players but I think it was a good experience for the kids to train with the manager, to train with us and to learn what Manchester United represents.

“We have had fantastic support from U.S. fans always and now we come back to Manchester ready. We have another game in Munich but [we are] already thinking about Leicester.”

Mata, who was not in Spain’s squad for the World Cup this summer, also said that United’s World Cup participants will be raring to for the start of the season.

“Personally, I’ve been here [in the U.S.] since the beginning,” he said. “I have the memory when I played World Cups, Confederations Cups, European Championships, you want to come back and be ready, but let’s see.

“I think we have some players already in Manchester training. Victor [Lindelof]. Let’s see how Nemanja [Matic] recovers. Marcus [Rashford], Romelu [Lukaku], Paul [Pogba] they will come soon so whoever is ready to play will give everything and obviously we want to start the Premier League with three points against Leicester.”