Javier Mascherano

Javier Alejandro Mascherano, more commonly referred to as simply “Mascherano”, has in recent times become known for his strong and imposing presence on the football pitch. Mascherano is a technically gifted defensive midfielder who is highly regarded for his exquisite passing ability and he has excelled himself playing international football for his home country of Argentina.

Mascherano started his footballing career at Argentinian club River Plate playing in their youth teams. Despite impressing the management at River Plate Mascherano made his debut for his country before he made his debut for his club. Mascherano made his debut for River Plate in 2003 and performed admirably with some outstanding displays of strength and skill.

Mascherano enjoyed success at River lifting the Clausura Championship with the club in the 2003-04 season and narrowly missing out to Boca Juniors in the Copa Libertadores. Mascherano’s sterling performances for club and country attracted interest from some of Europe’s major clubs such as Real Madrid and Deportivo la Coruna. However, Mascherano signed for Brazilian club Corinthians in 2005 but quickly suffered a fractured foot causing him to miss most of the season.

Surprisingly, Mascherano signed for West Ham United alongside Carlos Tevez despite Europe’s top clubs being interested in his signature. However, the arrival of Mascherano and Tevez led to a decline in West Ham’s form and Mascherano struggled to get first team football. Liverpool arrived to save his flagging career and when FIFA gave their clearance for the transfer to go ahead Mascherano became a Liverpool player. At Liverpool Mascherano was back to his best with outstanding defensive displays in midfield as the holding player. Mascherano was part of Liverpool’s Champion’s League squad and played in the final when Liverpool were defeated by AC Milan.

Mascherano plays for the Argentina national squad and has impressed since first making his debut competing in the 2004 Summer Olympics, Confederations Cup, 2006 FIFA World Cup and the Copa America 2007 where he was considered as one of Argentina’s best players.