Manchester United: Louis van Gaal confirms Juan Mata's free-kick routine was copied from Midtjylland

Once Louis van Gaal learned that the technique would not be judged offside, he instructed his own team to use it

Juan Mata celebrates his goal against Shrewsbury Town (Getty Images)

Louis van Gaal has revealed that Juan Mata’s controversial free-kick routine, which led to Manchester United’s second goal in last night’s 3-0 win over Shrewsbury, was copied from Europa League opponents Midtjylland.

Jesse Lingard, Ander Herrera and Anthony Martial lined up behind the League One side’s defensive wall, blocking goalkeeper Jayson Leutwiler’s view, which sparked debate among commentators as to whether the Spaniard’s subsequent goal should have been ruled out for offside.

Van Gaal revealed after the game that, after coming across the routine during his analysis of Midtjylland before last week’s Europa League round-of-32 first leg defeat, he too believed it was against the laws of the game.

However, the Portuguese officials who took charge of United’s 2-1 defeat to the Danish Superliga champions confirmed to him that it was permissible and the Dutchman duly instructed his own team to use it.

"We have learned because we have analysed Midtjylland,” Van Gaal said while speaking about Mata’s goal after the game. “We have seen that they are doing that and we thought that it was offside.

“So we have asked the referees, from that game, the Portuguese referees, and they said ‘no, it’s not offside, you can do that.”

“So that’s why we have learnt from Midtjylland and today we have scored, so that’s good."

Midtjylland, who claimed victory over Van Gaal’s men in their Europa League round-of-32 first leg last week, have a reputation as set-piece specialists, with only Atletico Madrid scoring more goals from free-kicks and corners during the 2014/15 season.