United face a mammoth task to overturn the two-goal deficit when they meet Liverpool at Old Trafford in the return leg on Thursday, but Mata was confident it would not be Mission Impossible.
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But United boss Louis van Gaal blasted the officials for helping Liverpool to two “cheap” goals in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 clash at Anfield. The win was made all the sweeter with it coming against their rivals, but the striker added that it wasn’t about revenge on the four previous defeats suffered against United.
“It’s hard because 2-0 is a very hard result for us”, said the Dutchman, who had emerged victorious from his first four meetings with Liverpool. “Really great and I want to say thank you to everyone that was involved”.
Some positive news, though – Marouane Fellaini may be banned for throwing hands at Emre Can towards the end of the game last night.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp refused to get carried away by the victory. After the defeat to Midtjylland I was sacked according to the media, but we stood up again in the next match and put a run of wins together. “That was the most important thing and that was our focus”.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has warned their Europa League job is only half-done against Manchester United.
“It is Manchester United and although they are under pressure they are capable of playing better and they have always bounced back after a tough loss, so it will be a tough game”. “They had chances but David de Gea was fantastic”.
But for now, United “still have the chance to win something” and the club has “to keep believing”. “We are in a good position now”.
Payet is a big player and he turns it on in the big games and they don’t come much bigger than this for West Ham.
Can played down the incident after the game, describing it as a “small fight” and “not a boxing ring punch”.
West Ham have suffered with injuries this season and many fans feel they would be even higher in the table had they not lost seven key first team stars all at the same time over the winter period.
Yet freedom and instinct have been restricted for most players and some have been frozen out like Victor Valdes or Robin van Persie last season.
Van Gaal’s side have gone through patches this term where they played like the United of old, but all too often they reverted back to looking disjointed and performing poorly.
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“It was a surprise that we did not cope with it”, he said.
