Juan Mata
Sometimes you look at footballers and think they're selfish or they don't bring a good image to society. But sometimes people underestimate footballers and their capacity to have a strong opinion and sympathy for others.Collection: Sympathy
In Spain, they show many Premier League games on TV, and it is an inspirational league. Maybe I would like to play in the Premier League.Collection: Inspirational
I've been lucky to be born in Spain to a good family. But some team-mates reached the same position from a tough background. Football is equal, and it doesn't matter where you come from.Collection: Family
I'm at the fantastic club that is Manchester United, one of the biggest in the world.
If a luxury player is a player who scores and assists and has good stats, then I'm happy to be a luxury player.
For me, good football is not about how many skills you show or how many players you beat. It's about making the right decision every time you have the ball.
I've been in England for a while, but it's true that at times you miss home, your family, your friends.
One of the first lessons I learned in football is that it takes a team to win a game.
Through Common Goal, we're creating a collaborative way for football to give back to society.
Obviously, when I play well and win a trophy, I feel happy about myself.
Wherever I go, I see kids playing football. Even if there is no grass and it's just sweaters for goals, you see how people love football.
If I was 19, 20, 18, and I had the chance to play with first-team players of Manchester United, I will definitely try to take my chance.
Real Madrid wanted me to join their academy. It was a big decision to move when I was 15. It's a key age for a youngster, and you're close to your friends and family. But I moved to Madrid, and my family stayed at home. It made me mature earlier than normal. That was a very big decision, and it changed me in a positive way.
For me, football is what I love to do most. It is also the thing I'm better doing than anything else.
We have professional football, but we also have a beautiful game which, wherever you go, can be used as a social tool for change. Football has an unmatchable power.
It would be great to play until I'm 40 like Ryan Giggs.
You never know what can happen in football and in life.
I think every footballer, after 20 years playing football, the first thing that comes to your mind is to relax.
I like the Common Goal initiative, the vision of football as a tool for social change and the power football has to improve the world.
With respect to the world of football, I earn a normal wage. But compared to 99.9% of Spain and the rest of the world, I earn an obscene amount.
I live in a bubble. Real life is the one my friends live. They've had to look for work, sign on to the dole, and emigrate. That's normal life now. My life as a footballer is not normal.
The business side of football makes it seem as though the owners are now more important than the fans.
Every player thinks he's Maradona when he joins a big club. That happens to all of us, but then you start to notice it in the younger players. You see kids who think they're rock stars, wearing extravagant clothes and driving fancy cars... and sometimes you have to take them aside and have a word.
I can tell you as a Manchester United player how big this club is and how you feel the repercussions of everything you do. It happens to everyone. It happened to me when I came.
Football is not about money but emotions.
Winning the World Cup is something that will always be inside your mind and inside your body.
London is a very big city, Manchester is calmer. I live near the training ground, so I do things around there in the countryside, but I really like Manchester's Northern Quarter, where they have nice coffee shops and live music places.
It is true that footballers are mistrustful.
Football sometimes has a bad reputation. Some of that is deserved... and some of it isn't.
Football generates a lot of money, but there has to be a social responsibility that goes with that. It can positively affect people's lives.
Football's incomparable to anything else - perhaps only music has that same power to transform society.
To be honest, I was never expecting to be in a World Cup final, a Euro final, a Champions League final, a Europa League final. I've done much more than I dreamt, and that's incredible.
When I signed for Valencia, it wasn't the best moment of my football career because in the beginning, I was not playing a lot. But I remained calm, and I knew that if I trained well and played as I know, I'm sure I can get a place in the first XI.
There are some examples in my career when my family was more concerned than me. So every time I win or I score, I always think about them.
Luck - it's key for every footballer's career. I have been incredibly lucky during my career and in my life.
My adaptation on the pitch has gone in parallel with my adaptation to London.
English football is changing: the champions don't play a 'typical' English style, for example. But in general, it's quicker than in Spain: more counter-attacks, more open, more direct.
I like to be in contact with the ball, have possession, to play.
There's always pressure. People's happiness depends on you; they suffer with you. You get used to it, but you have to know how to handle it.
Everything depends on the club more than the player: the quantities, the paperwork.
I will always be grateful to Chelsea, to the players, the directors, the owner, the fans.
Like any footballer, I love to play. I love to feel important. I love to enjoy the game.
I'll always be proud to say I played at Chelsea, at Valencia, in the youth system at Real Madrid, in the youth system at Real Oviedo, and for United.
I have always been a very positive person and tried to bring the positives from the hardest moments.
My duty, what I have to do, is try my best in every training session, leave everything of me on the pitch. That's how I can go to bed at the end of the day and be happy with myself.
I've tried to improve - defending, attacking, pressing, trying to think before a game, to be more clever, do something before the defender can think of it, to become a better player. That makes me feel good, that hunger to improve in every way.
The only thing I think about is helping the team, respecting all my team-mates, not being selfish.
The managers I've known all had their own specific way of working.
I think that being confident gives you more freedom. It liberates you, helps you have the courage to do things on the football pitch.
You have to feel free enough to do what your body is telling you to do. Sometimes, though, the pressure of winning and the fear of defeat limit your performance.