Valencia forward Juan Mata had a daunting plank of 23 rating points to beat in the Europa League game against French side Lille, which he did partially with a 3:1 win and goal, earning 17.54 rating points.
Despite a slight drop in his overall score, Mata remains 2nd in our ranking of Spanish forwards. Yet a serious test is awaiting him in the coming weekend, when Valencia travel to No. 8 Athletic Bilbao, where they have not achieved great success in recent years: they have lost each of their last 3 games at Bilbao, conceding 9 goals in the process! In the meantime, Mata will be going in with a plank of 12.88 rating points to beat.
If Valencia fail to break this recent trend this time, Mata will probably lose his # 2 spot in the ranking to Liverpool’s Fernando Torres, who will need to clear a bar of just 1 rating point in the Premier League game against Blackburn Rovers.
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