Manchester United star Nemanja Matic says he has nothing to prove ahead of Chelsea return

Back a the Bridge | Matic faces his old side this weekend
Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
Chris Hatherall1 November 2017

Nemanja Matic insists he has nothing to prove when he returns to Chelsea on Sunday, having already made himself indispensable at Manchester United.

The midfielder will face the Blues for the first time since he was surprisingly sold to one of their rivals for £40million in July.

He has proved an instant hit and showed his class against another of his former clubs last night with a man-of-the-match display in the 2-0 victory over Benfica.

At the same time, Chelsea were suffering in Italy, going down 3-0 to Roma. One reason for the defeat was a lack of cover for the defence with Cesc Fabregas and Tiemoue Bakayoko struggling in midfield - a role Matic would have filled had he still been one of the Blues.

​Bakayoko and Danny Drinkwater were both signed as defensive midfielders this summer - although the latter has since played only three times due to injury - while Chelsea have badly missed N’Golo Kante, who has been out for a month with a hamstring problem.

Given the issues in defensive midfield, Matic’s return to Stamford Bridge will be watched keenly. However, the Serb, who played more than 150 games for Chelsea, said: “When I played there I showed my quality. We won the title twice, we also won cups. So I don’t need to prove anything to them - I need to prove it to my new club.

“I spent a good time at Chelsea, three-and-a-half years is a long time, so, of course, it means a lot to me to go back. It’s going to be something special to play again in the stadium.

“But now I’m on the other side, I’m a Manchester United player. I’m a professional and I’m going to do my best against them to get three points for my team. We know how important this game is.”

Former United defender Phil Neville watched Chelsea’s defeat for the BBC and still cannot understand why Matic was allowed to leave.

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He said: “What’s gone wrong for Chelsea? One word: Matic. It’s as simple as that. The minute they sold Matic was a mistake. Whoever made that decision needs sacking. That is one of the poorest decisions I have ever seen in the Premier League.

“If you ask any of those Chelsea players who they would want back, they would say ‘Matic’.”

The 29-year-old had a large part in the opening goal with his 20-yard shot hitting the post and rebounded into the net off goalkeeper Mile Svilar.

United defender Chris Smalling said: “Matic can do everything. You want to give him the ball because he’s able to find the attacking players very quickly but he’s also able to break things up - and we couldn’t ask for anyone better in the middle.

“We were always confident it wouldn’t take Matic long to settle in but he has definitely surpassed that.”