Outstanding atmosphere at the Theatre of Dreams

Hi everyone,

As I write this I’m still full of adrenaline after our win in the derby. Beating your Manchester rival and, on top of that, being able to score in front of your crowd is a truly amazing feeling, especially because we stretch our good moment and we keep adding points.

I may sound repetitive but once again I have to say that the best part is the incredible atmosphere that Old Trafford generates. I have to admit that it was arguably the game with the best atmosphere at home since I arrived to United, and I realised that already during the warm-up… It was a special game, we had had several consecutive defeats against City and both the fans and the players felt it was time to change that streak. It’s not easy to explain with words what you feel on the pitch, but the thrill of a comeback in a derby is something I will never forget.

The result was amazing, although it is true that things were looking bad at the beginning… They had a strong start, played great football in the first few minutes and managed to score first, but our team showed character and soon afterwards we were able to come back, which confirms that this team does not give up easily. We have plenty of confidence in ourselves, that’s something you can tell in both the good and the bad moments. Ashley was decisive to tie the score and also in our second goal, and after that we could control the game and add up three more points that are very important to reach our goal. Perhaps the most remarkable thing, once again, was the character and personality shown by the team after a bad start of the game.

From this Monday we are already thinking about our next ‘final’, a visit to the leader of the Premiership. Needless to say that it’s going to be a very special game for me. I already played against Chelsea in the first half of the championship, but going back to Stamford Bridge for the first time will bring me plenty of good memories, for sure. The day I arrived to this great club I wrote: “Gratitude is the memory of the heart”. And I keep thinking the same. At that time I had the chance to thank everybody who helped me in London during those two and a half years, and next Saturday it will be nice to meet former team-mates, fans and friends. I keep good memories of them and I wish them the best. Obviously, our intention is to get the three points again and we will try from the kick-off until the final whistle. The best thing is that we get to this game in a very good moment, with confidence, but we are aware that we must perform at our best level if we want to beat Chelsea.

On Saturday, at the pre-match hotel, I watched la Liga games. The Spanish championship gets tight again after Barça’s draw against Sevilla and Real Madrid’s victory versus Eibar. Luis Enrique’s team played very good for the first 30 minutes, but when you are facing such rival as Sevilla you never know. They have one of the toughest stadiums in Europe, Barça could tell last Saturday. As I said in previous weeks I expect a very close race for the title. Let’s see what happens…

Other than that I have to highlight Chory Castro’s superb goal with Real Sociedad against Deportivo. It reminded me of a very famous one from Van Basten in the Eurocup final….

I also want to congratulate Marc Márquez for his victory in MotoGP, he is a phenomenon!

Hugs to all, and I hope we can keep our good streak in what it’s going to be a special game for me! Have a nice week, my friends!

Juan