On Wednesday night, Manchester United managed to secure a 2-1 victory over Group B rivals VfL Wolfsburg thanks to a penalty from Juan Mata in the first-half and a deft finish from Chris Smalling after a fantastic piece of skill from Mata to backheel the ball over the defence to cancel out Daniel Caligiuri’s fourth minute goal that gave the German side the initial lead.
And after a solid defensive display in the final stages of the game the players were relieved to have come away with a win and three points in their first home game in this year’s Champions League.
“It was important that we got three points,” Phil Jones told MUTV .
“It was a difficult test, but overall we did well to win.”
“We are very happy to play at this level,” added Morgan Schneiderlin.
“We want to go through, keep our dream alive and see how far we can progress.”
However, manager Louis van Gaal admitted in his post-match interview with BT Sport that his side were lucky to win a penalty after the referee deemed that Caligiuri had handballed inside the area.
He said: “It was very difficult because they scored so early. Then we did very well, we created a lot of chances. We don’t finish it and it was a lucky penalty I think.
“Of course, it is a penalty but there are some refs not whistling for that. We have created much more chances, Rooney and Depay could have scored and you finish the game.
“Then we score and after that it was suffering. A lot of players are very tired, a combination of a lot of matches, but we didn’t give much away. How many chances have we given away? Maybe one.
“We have to keep the ball better in the second half.”
Many were surprised that Mata stepped up to take the penalty himself with captain Rooney also on the pitch but admitted that he had the full support of the manager to step up.
“The manager made a list of penalty takers and I am the first right now and I have confidence,” Mata told BT Sport – who also scored his last penalty in a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace last May.
“It was a very tough game because we were physically tired at the end.
“But we did what we had to do.”
Louis van Gaal and his side will now have to prepare for a tough fixture away to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium before a double header against CSKA Moscow in their next Champions League fixtures on October 21 (A) and November 3 (H) respectively.
