Juventus 1-2 Manchester United: 4 men who helped United earn 3 points

#1 Juan Mata

Juventus v Manchester United - UEFA Champions League Group H

It was the stuff of dreams for Mata. Imagine losing your place in the starting eleven and watching your team trailing from the bench. Imagine coming on in the 79th minute, with your team needing at least a goal and then standing over a free kick at the edge of the area, with the weight of expectations on your shoulders.

As he prepared to take the free kick, Mata knew he had to score. And it was a testament to his genius that the Spaniard did just that. The Ashley Young dummy had its effect, but Juan Mata's free-kick was both the cake and the cherry on top of it.

It was the moment of achieving the impossible, the sheer shock of securing an unexpected happening. The ball perfectly glided over the wall and into the top corner and sent Manchester United - fans and players alike, on a frenzy.

Mata provided the class, the perfect blend of poise that was required to break into this Juventus side. His goal gave his team the belief that they could go on and win the game and Manchester United did just that.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written more than 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 20 million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Sripad