Manchester United playmaker Juan Mata was having a rotten afternoon on Saturday after his own-goal gave Stoke City the lead, but it got worse.
The Spaniard was guilty of an horrendous miss with Zlatan Ibrahimovic putting it on a plate for him with an excellent cross which required a tap-in.
However, while Bruno Martins Indi deserves some credit for doing his best to put the 28-year-old off, he really should have buried it to draw United level.
O gol perdido por Juan Mata pic.twitter.com/YflUAXA5x0
— Fernando Junior (@JFJunior_94) January 21, 2017
Instead, having missed it and with the visitors squandering other chances to find an equaliser, they trail Mark Hughes’ side going into half-time as Jose Mourinho’s men need to respond after the interval if they are to extend their current unbeaten streak to 17 games in all competitions.
Mata is having a decent season having scored seven goals and provided four assists in 27 outings in total, but he’ll want to forget his first-half performance at the Britannia Stadium as soon as possible.