Manchester United have seen a fair few managers come and go since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013, but perhaps none as eccentric as Dutchman Louis van Gaal.
The former Bayern Munich boss was never one to shy away from saying exactly what was on his mind and that was made abundantly clear in the build-up to a Europa League knockout tie against FC Midtjylland in February of 2016. At the round of 32 stage, United were on the wrong end of a shock 2-1 score-line in the first leg, prompting Van Gaal to call on some rather unconventional motivation tactics.
Knowing he needed to spark some kind of reaction from his men, Van Gaal opened up on some of the pearls of wisdom he dishes out to the squad on a regular basis to reporters during his pre-match presser. Mata sat next to him, squirming in his seat.
"Desire, hungry and a lot of times I used the word horny to my players," Van Gaal explained, before turning to Mata for reassurance: "It's true isn't it?" Attention swiftly turned to the Spaniard as a member of the media asked him how reacts to those 'instructions' from his manager.
"Like you, we react like you do," the midfielder responded, referring to the laughs from the reporters once Van Gaal had made the confession. With all that being said, the advice may have worked as United ran out 5-1 winners in the return fixture and progressed to the next round of the competition.
The former Ajax coach has amassed a reputation over the course of his lengthy coaching career as a manager who is a bit 'off the wall' with his methods. His "horny" remark was not the last time he made risque comments during his United reign.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Is Louis van Gaal the funniest manager the Premier League has ever seen? Comment below
After Leicester City's Robert Huth grabbed Marouane Fellani by the hair, Van Gaal made his feelings on the situation known following the full-time whistle. “When you see what Huth is doing to Fellaini, that’s a penalty," he protested. "Shall I grab you by your hair? What is your reaction when I grab your hair?"
Van Gaal then proceeded to actually grab the reporter's hair and say: "Your hair is shorter than Fellaini. But when I do that, what are you doing then? It’s a reaction. Every human being who is grabbed by the hair — only with sex masochism, then it is allowed — but not in other situations. They did it."
Van Gaal is now in charge of his national side once again but shocked the footballing world recently when he made the sad announcement that he was suffering from prostate cancer. The 70-year-old made the decision to not tell his players despite undergoing treatment during the recent international break.
"I didn't want to tell it to my players because it could have influenced their performances," he told Dutch television programme Humberto. In each period during my time as manager of the national team, I had to leave in the night to go to the hospital without the players finding it out until now. While thinking I was healthy, but… I am not."
