Juan Mata accepts he let his Manchester United team-mates down by being sent off at West Brom – but insists his dismissal was harsh.
Mata was red carded for the first time in nearly 500 senior games after picking up two bookings in the space of three first-half minutes during United’s defeat at West Brom on Sunday.
First he was cautioned by referee Mike Dean for blocking Darren Fletcher’s quick free-kick before cutting down his former team-mate.
The Spaniard feels players have got away with worse challenges this season, but still accepted responsibility for his dismissal as
United’s 10 men went on to lose 1-0 at The Hawthorns.
Writing in his weekly blog, Mata said: “After almost 500 games as a professional player, this Sunday I was sent off for the first time in my career.
“As you can imagine, it’s not easy for me to write these lines.
“The truth is this is a new and strange situation for me, not easy to assimilate, but we learn from everything.
“I know that, in football, we see things like these every week, but obviously what hurts more is that my teammates had to fight with ten men for a long time.
“I have the feeling that both decisions were rigorous; that, in many occasions, we see more serious fouls that are not penalised in such a way, but at the same time I could have avoided them and I take responsibility.”
Mata also felt bad for United supporters and vowed to make amends in Thursday’s first-ever European clash against Liverpool.
“It also leaves me with a bad taste for the supporters who travelled to the stadium and for those who were watching the game from home,” he wrote.
“But I must carry on as always and from now on I’m already focused on the next game – the derby against Liverpool in the Europa League.”
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