Juan Mata has said that the upcoming Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk is a very important match and his team needs to win that match in order to top the group. The match between Chelsea and Shakhtar is going to be played at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday. Chelsea had played against Shakhtar two weeks ago, but, in that match the Blues got defeated by a narrow margin of 2-1.

Chelsea had won the Champions League in the last season, but, the performance of the Blues in the ongoing Champions League hasn’t been that good. Out of the three Champions League matches that Chelsea has played in the current season, it has managed to win only one.

Talking to the reporters ahead of the Tuesday’s match, Mata said, “This match is very important for us. We had made some mistakes against them in Ukraine and we had paid the price for that. We need to put up a clinical performance tomorrow. If we lose tomorrow’s match, we are going to be in a spot of bother.”

“We will be playing at Bridge which is a great advantage. Playing at home ground is always special.

Mata hadn’t played in Chelsea’s last match against Swansea City because of his hamstring injury. That match had ended in a draw. Victor Moses had played on Mata’s place in that match and had also scored a goal. That was the first starting opportunity given to Moses in the ongoing season and he had made full use of that. Mata is expected to return to the starting XI in the match against Shakhtar. When asked about that, Mata said, “That was a minor hamstring strain and I have recovered from it now. Hopefully, I would get a starting chance in tomorrow’s match and would make a mark.”