Juan Mata opens up about his rift with Jose Mourinho

Mata left Chelsea in January to join Manchester United and believes he's in a far better situation.

Juan Mata says he had 'no relationship' with Jose Mourinho during their time at Chelsea together and is much happier with life under Louis van Gaal. Mourinho criticised Mata for not working hard enough last season and the Spaniard played in only 13 of the Blues' opening 22 league games. This was despite having been named as the club's Player of the Season for the two previous campaigns and the playmaker says he's much better off at Manchester United. "For better or for worse, we had no relationship, there was no dialogue," Mata told El Pais when the Spanish newspaper asked him about Mourinho. "I was not happy, but always gave the most and respected my colleagues. You never know what will happen in life." Mata was quick to suck up to his new boss, saying of van Gaal: "He has so much experience and I can learn a lot from him. He’s tough when he has to be," he added. "He says things in a firm way, intensely, but then he’s somebody who is very close with the players. He really likes to talk with us, to ask us what we think about the exercises that we do in training."