Let’s carry on without losing perspective

Hi everyone,

It’s not easy to write after a defeat. Obviously, there’s a risk that you get carried away by pessimism. But my experience tells me that you must allow some time to analyse things with more perspective. It hurts to lose, that’s for sure. Both you and us. But now there’s an international break coming and it’s a good time to recap and to see the things that we’re doing well and the things that we can improve.

Indeed, the return to Stamford Bridge didn’t work out as we expected. It was a tough and intense game where Chelsea were able to take their chances to get the three points. In sports you have to accept the defeats, but with the only goal of learning from them and trying to improve in the next game. That’s what we’re going to do. There’s still a lot to play for, so let’s carry on.

In this sense, I think that we shouldn’t forget our victory against Benfica at Old Trafford on Tuesday that took us really close to the next stage of the Champions League. Four wins out of four games are an extraordinary record; we must give value to that, and yet remain vigilant. We still need at least one more point, and our goal, of course, is to finish on top of the group.

In Spain, Barcelona keeps their unstoppable streak on top of the table. They managed to get the three points in a difficult game against Sevilla. It seems they are in that moment when you just win every single game as a routine. Valencia are very strong too; right now they are a very reliable squad and the crowd is absolutely engaged with the team again, I’m so happy for that. Real Madrid defeated Las Palmas to keep the distance with the top two teams. And another candidate to the title is Atletico, who won with a late goal in Riazor.

I’d like to remind you that you can still visit the exhibition with some of the pictures we took in Mumbai, India. It’s open until this coming Thursday in the National Football Museum in Manchester. As I’m sure you know, we visited one of the projects of the OSCAR Foundation that are part of Common Goal, and through this exhibition we try to show the great job they’re doing.

Have a nice week. Hugs,

Juan

PS: Congratulations to my fellow countryman Rafa Nadal for securing the number 1 in ATP’s ranking at the end of this year. I will never get tired of praising his commendable spirit. He is a reference to all of us in many aspects.