Juan Mata and fellow Manchester United Spaniards celebrate New Year eating 12 grapes each
JUAN MATA let the world know that Manchester United's Spanish contingent would be celebrating in style by chomping down on grapes at the turn of the New Year.
The 'Spanish clan' at United were treated by their club chef to 48 grapes between them, so that the four of them could celebrate in traditional Spanish style and gobble down the grapes on each bell strike at midnight.
While staying at the Titantic Hotel in Liverpool, ahead of their New Year's Day clash with Everton, the Red Devils enjoyed a subdued New Year's Eve compared to other footballers without fixtures today.
David De Gea, Ander Herrera and Emilio Alvarez joined Mata in his room to celebrate the New Year in Spanish style.
The tradition sees Spaniards guzzle 12 grapes to symbolise 12 lucky months ahead, which inevitable causes much laughter as they attempt to swallow the large bunch in quick succession.
Mata hailed their chef 'Mike' as great for providing the men with the grapes, but said that they then headed to bed to get some sleep ahead of their New Year's Day fixture.
The attacking midfielder has been at Old Trafford since he was sold by Jose Mourinho, at Chelsea, in 2014, but continues to honour the Spanish tradition with his fellow countrymen.
In a blog post on his website, the nice guy of United shared his best wishes with his fans.
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The Spaniard has openly admitted that he would like to see out his days at United but acknowledged that both he and his teammates were frustrated with the results of late.
He said: "I know that so far the Christmas season hasn't been particularly good for the Manchester United supporters.
"Three consecutive ties are not the best way to close 2017, and we know it.
"We understand the frustration of the fans after our last results, since we share the same feeling."
As it stands, Manchester United trail Manchester City by 15 point, they have their work cut out if they are to close the gap, Mata said: "We must go back to the winning track and that's our first wish for 2018 , a year that we hope is ever better than 2017."
In 2017, Mata launched his Common Goal charity and has seen a wave of footballers donate one per cent of their salary.
He hopes he will see even more players pledge a percentage in 2018- Kasper Schmeichel was the latest to join in with his initiative.
Mata referenced the absent Romelu Lukaku for today's Everton fixture, after he suffered a head injury, in his blog post, and wished the striker well before drawing his post to a close by wishing fans good health for 2018.
No doubt he is hopeful that good health runs throughout the corridors of Old Trafford and brings the big boys Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lukaku back from injuries.