Manchester United star Juan Mata working hard to regain spot in Spain squad

Manchester United playmaker Juan Mata has claimed he is working hard in order to convince Spain manager Vicente del Bosque he deserves to regain a spot with the national team.

The former Chelsea star won the Euro 2012 and as well the World Cup 2010 under Del Bosque before being part of the squad who collapsed in the 2014 Brazil tournament, being knocked out in the group stage after humiliating defeats against Netherlands and Chile.

And even though Mata didn't play in those games he has since been one of the casualties of Del Bosque, being left out of the squad during all the Euro qualifiers.

Del Bosque himself explained last week his decision to exclude Mata from the games against Ukraine and Netherlands by claiming there is a huge competition for the playmaker role in his squad.

"All the players who have come deserve it. Bueno and Mata have not been included because they have to compete for a place with the playmakers that we already have. It is not a decision on a whim. We are not here to give prizes to anyone but to bring the best players to try to win Ukraine.

"We try to bring the best players and the ones who give us more solutions," Del Bosque said after calling up Andres Iniesta, Santi Cazorla, David Silva, Pedro, Koke, Isco and Sevilla winger Vitolo instead of the United playmaker.

But Mata still hopes to overcoming the situation and sooner rather than later return to his national team.

"Many of you are asking me these days about the Spanish national team. As I always say, I have been very lucky to play and to win a World Cup and a Eurocup, to participate in the most important competitions, but I'm still excited as the first day. I am convinced that I'm in a perfect age in my football career and I look forward to keep contributing and achieving more success with my national team," the Spaniard wrote in his weekly blog.

"That's what I work for every day, training and playing to the maximum, trying to do the best I can. After that, obviously, the manager is the one who picks the players for every game. So now I take these quiet days to keep working, as I said, but I also switch off and rest a bit."

Meanwhile, Mata has also expressed his confidence of ending the campaign on a high with United to consolidate in the Premier League top four after their two recent victories over Tottenham and Liverpool.

"We are in the last stage of the Premiership, with just eight weeks ahead: eight crucial games to determine where we will finally stand on the table," he said after being rewarded with the Player of the Month award for March following his brace at Anfield.

"Personally, I think setting our goals game after game is the right thing to do, trying to win as many of them as possible and keeping the momentum following these two wins versus Tottenham and Liverpool. I check the calendar and I see four big games for us in April: Aston Villa, Manchester City, Chelsea and Everton. All of them are big clubs and we want to show that we can beat them, getting close to our goal and also making our fans happy."