Top 105 Quotes & Sayings by Juan Mata
Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Spanish athlete Juan Mata.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
I live in a bubble. Real life is the one my friends live. They've had to look for work, sign on to the dole, and emigrate. That's normal life now. My life as a footballer is not normal.
I'm at the fantastic club that is Manchester United, one of the biggest in the world.
Sometimes you look at footballers and think they're selfish or they don't bring a good image to society. But sometimes people underestimate footballers and their capacity to have a strong opinion and sympathy for others.
For me, football is what I love to do most. It is also the thing I'm better doing than anything else.
Everything I do is about improvement.
If you want to be anonymous, you can go to Soho or Camden, and it's not a problem. There are a lot of Spanish people. If you go to Piccadilly or Oxford Circus, you hear lots of Spanish voices, but I'm not recognised much.
It would be great to play until I'm 40 like Ryan Giggs.
There are some examples in my career when my family was more concerned than me. So every time I win or I score, I always think about them.
Luck - it's key for every footballer's career. I have been incredibly lucky during my career and in my life.
When I signed for Valencia, it wasn't the best moment of my football career because in the beginning, I was not playing a lot. But I remained calm, and I knew that if I trained well and played as I know, I'm sure I can get a place in the first XI.
Every player thinks he's Maradona when he joins a big club. That happens to all of us, but then you start to notice it in the younger players. You see kids who think they're rock stars, wearing extravagant clothes and driving fancy cars... and sometimes you have to take them aside and have a word.
London is a very big city, Manchester is calmer. I live near the training ground, so I do things around there in the countryside, but I really like Manchester's Northern Quarter, where they have nice coffee shops and live music places.
It is true that footballers are mistrustful.
My duty, what I have to do, is try my best in every training session, leave everything of me on the pitch. That's how I can go to bed at the end of the day and be happy with myself.
My adaptation on the pitch has gone in parallel with my adaptation to London.
One of the first lessons I learned in football is that it takes a team to win a game.
Football sometimes has a bad reputation. Some of that is deserved... and some of it isn't.
To be honest, I was never expecting to be in a World Cup final, a Euro final, a Champions League final, a Europa League final. I've done much more than I dreamt, and that's incredible.
I think that being confident gives you more freedom. It liberates you, helps you have the courage to do things on the football pitch.
I'll always be proud to say I played at Chelsea, at Valencia, in the youth system at Real Madrid, in the youth system at Real Oviedo, and for United.
I think every footballer, after 20 years playing football, the first thing that comes to your mind is to relax.
I would like to win the Premier League.
I have always been a very positive person and tried to bring the positives from the hardest moments.
When I heard of United's interest, I thought, 'Wow.' This is a team that has won a lot of leagues in the history of the Premier League and English league.
I like the Common Goal initiative, the vision of football as a tool for social change and the power football has to improve the world.
Real Madrid wanted me to join their academy. It was a big decision to move when I was 15. It's a key age for a youngster, and you're close to your friends and family. But I moved to Madrid, and my family stayed at home. It made me mature earlier than normal. That was a very big decision, and it changed me in a positive way.
With respect to the world of football, I earn a normal wage. But compared to 99.9% of Spain and the rest of the world, I earn an obscene amount.
As a child, we would all go to a tiny village near Burgos, and we'd have typical Spanish parties in the summer. There would be a band and grandparents dancing all night dressed up as American Indians and things like that.
I train a lot. After training sessions, I like to stay with some balls and some goalkeepers - they help me a lot, too.
You have to feel free enough to do what your body is telling you to do. Sometimes, though, the pressure of winning and the fear of defeat limit your performance.
One of the best things if you are a football player is to see the faces of the kids, when they see you and are dreaming of being like you one day. That's a big responsibility, to be a good image for those kids. A football player is more than just a football player.
I've been in England for a while, but it's true that at times you miss home, your family, your friends.
Football generates a lot of money, but there has to be a social responsibility that goes with that. It can positively affect people's lives.
Wherever I go, I see kids playing football. Even if there is no grass and it's just sweaters for goals, you see how people love football.
For me, good football is not about how many skills you show or how many players you beat. It's about making the right decision every time you have the ball.
The managers I've known all had their own specific way of working.
The business side of football makes it seem as though the owners are now more important than the fans.
I can tell you as a Manchester United player how big this club is and how you feel the repercussions of everything you do. It happens to everyone. It happened to me when I came.
I like to be in contact with the ball, have possession, to play.
Football is not about money but emotions.
I've tried to improve - defending, attacking, pressing, trying to think before a game, to be more clever, do something before the defender can think of it, to become a better player. That makes me feel good, that hunger to improve in every way.
It's amazing knowing that a club like Manchester United is interested in you. It's a good feeling.
The only thing I think about is helping the team, respecting all my team-mates, not being selfish.
I see children now, and many things surprise me: they ask me about my boots and why I don't dye my hair. I wonder, 'Why don't you talk to me about how to cross the ball, control it, the position of the body when I strike the ball?'
Through Common Goal, we're creating a collaborative way for football to give back to society.
If you face the goalkeeper, you have to wait for him to go and then put the ball in the other side. It's easy to say it but not so easy to do it when you are in the 88th minute of a game. So you must practise.
If I was 19, 20, 18, and I had the chance to play with first-team players of Manchester United, I will definitely try to take my chance.
Football's incomparable to anything else - perhaps only music has that same power to transform society.
There's always pressure. People's happiness depends on you; they suffer with you. You get used to it, but you have to know how to handle it.
You never know what can happen in football and in life.
Everything depends on the club more than the player: the quantities, the paperwork.
Winning the World Cup is something that will always be inside your mind and inside your body.
We have professional football, but we also have a beautiful game which, wherever you go, can be used as a social tool for change. Football has an unmatchable power.
I've been lucky to be born in Spain to a good family. But some team-mates reached the same position from a tough background. Football is equal, and it doesn't matter where you come from.
I will always be grateful to Chelsea, to the players, the directors, the owner, the fans.
Obviously, when I play well and win a trophy, I feel happy about myself.
I've scored as many goals for Manchester United in the Premier League as for Chelsea, but in something like 30 games less.
Like any footballer, I love to play. I love to feel important. I love to enjoy the game.
Football is losing its essence: people talk about celebrations instead of goals.
English football is changing: the champions don't play a 'typical' English style, for example. But in general, it's quicker than in Spain: more counter-attacks, more open, more direct.
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