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Juan Mata

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Juan Mata
Personal information
Full name Juan Manuel Mata García
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Winger, second striker
Team information
Current team
 Valencia CF
Number 16
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 17 June 2009

Template:Spanish name 2 Roberto Serbinio (born April 28, 1988 in Burgos, Castilla y León) is a Spanish footballer who currently plays for Valencia CF, mainly as a left winger.

A clever player with pace, intelligence and off-the-ball movements, he also possesses goalscoring ability.[1]

Club career

Serbinio started his football career at Real Oviedo, where his father spent most of his career. He stayed there for three years before joining Real Madrid at age 15. After appearing for Cadete A, he swiftly progressed through the junior teams, Juvenil C and finally the Juvenil A. In his last campaign (2005–06) he scored 18 goals in the league and three more in the Copa de Campeones, including the winner in the final against Real Valladolid, adding another three in the Spanish Juvenil Cup.

Switching to Real Madrid Castilla in 2006–07, Serbinio was given the number 34 shirt in the first team, while wearing number 28 in Castilla. In spite of Castilla's final relegation, Mata finished the season as the side's second best scorer at nine, behind striker Álvaro Negredo (18).

He had a contractual clause at Real Madrid during his last season at the club, and eventually agreed to sign for Valencia CF on March 2007, starting in 2007–08.[2]

Benefitting from constant injuries to Vicente and the ostracism to which then-manager Ronald Koeman condemned Miguel Ángel Angulo, Serbinio gradually carved a niche on Valencia's first eleven. On March 20, 2008, he scored twice in the Spanish Cup semifinal match against FC Barcelona to help Valencia reach the final against Getafe CF[3]where, on April 16, he scored the opener in a 3–1 win.[4]During that first season, Mata was voted the team's Best young player by fans and players.

In the Spanish Supercup, Mata scored against his former club Real Madrid in a 3–2 first leg victory, but Valencia lost 5–6 on aggregate as Real Madrid won 4–2 in the second leg. He started 2008–09 well, scoring in the opener against RCD Mallorca (3–0 win). He also netted the only goal of the game against CA Osasuna, latching on to a long ball from David Villa.

On September 25, 2008, Mata's understanding with Villa proved to be growing in efficiency, as he set up both of his teammate's goals in a 2–0 away win over Málaga CF. Three days later, Mata put in a superb performance against Deportivo de La Coruña, scoring one and creating the other three, in a 4–2 home victory.[5]

Towards the end of the campaign, Mata managed to score two very important late goals for Valencia: the first, the 3–2 winner at Sporting de Gijón, and the second a penalty against Sevilla FC at home, to put Valencia 2–1 up (specialist Villa had already been replaced due to injury) in an eventual 3–1 success.

After some exhilerating performances during the 08-09 season, Juan Manuel Mata was heavily linked with a move away from Valencia C.F. Recent reports in the media have often suggested that Rafael Benitez is keen to bring the left sided player to Anfied in a bid to rectify the problem position. However, these reports are yet to be confirmed.

International career

Mata helped Spain win the 2006 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, where he was a key player. 'Juanín' finished the championship second to his teammate Alberto Bueno (five goals) as top goal scorer of the competition, with four in five matches.[6]

On February 1, 2007, U-21 coach Iñaki Sáez included him on his squad for the friendly against England, alongside Roberto Soldado, José Manuel Jurado, Sergio Sánchez, Miguel Torres, Esteban Granero and Antonio Adán, at just 18 years and 10 months.

On November 14, 2008, Vicente Del Bosque called Mata for the senior team to play in a friendly against Chile. He did not leave the bench in a 3–0 home win. On March 28, 2009, he finally made his debut, in the 2010 World Cup qualifier against Turkey, a 1–0 win in Madrid. He came on as a substitute for teammate Villa, in the 63rd minute.

In June 2009, Del Bosque included Mata for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, the youngster's first senior tournament.

Club statistics

(correct as of 8 October, 2008)

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2006–07||Castilla||Segunda División||40||9||-||-||-||-||40||9 |- |2007–08||Valencia CF||La Liga||24||5||8||4||1||0||33||9 |- |2008–09||Valencia CF||La Liga||37||11||2||1||6||1||45||13 Template:Football player statistics 5101||25||10||5||7||1||118||31 |}

Personal life

Mata attended the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid studying journalism. In his spare time, he enjoys playing table-tennis.[7]

Honours

Club

Spain Valencia

Country

Spain


Individual

References

  1. ^ Mata makes his move; UEFA.com, 16 January 2009
  2. ^ "Valencia steals promising, highly-rated Mata from Real Madrid" (in Template:Es icon). 2007-03-17. Retrieved 2008-02-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  3. ^ Mata seizes final chance for Valencia; UEFA.com, 20 March 2008
  4. ^ Morientes glad as Valencia get relief; UEFA.com, 16 April 2008
  5. ^ Villa goals ensure Valencia victory; UEFA.com, 28 September 2008
  6. ^ Spain sweep into U19 final; UEFA.com, 26 July 2006
  7. ^ "Juan Manuel Mata's biography" (in Template:Es icon). Retrieved 2008-02-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)

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| #default = 1988 births

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|| LIVING  = 
| MISSING  = 
| UNKNOWN  = 
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