Posted in: 16/11/2020 – 10:00
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Buenos Aires (AFP)
Argentine midfielder Javier Mascherano, the record holder in the number of international matches for his country (147), announced his final retirement at the age of thirty-six.
The decision by Mascherano, who defended the colors of Liverpool and Barcelona, came after the loss of his current team, Estudiantes de la Plata, in the Argentine League Cup.
“I lived my career with great passion, I made every effort and today things became difficult for me. It was time to end my career. During the pre-season period, I thought I would be excited again but things were frankly different. It was time for me to put myself aside. Sometimes one cannot choose the end moment, but it simply comes. “
The player who had the title of “Il Givissito”, meaning the young captain, won the honor of defending the Argentine national team for the first time at the age of nineteen, specifically on July 16, 2003 against Uruguay, before playing his first match in the Argentine First Division with his club River Plate.
He quickly caught the attention of foreign and European club scouts, and after a year spent with Corinthians in Brazil, he moved to the ranks of West Ham in the English Premier League accompanied by his compatriot Carlos Tevez, then defended the colors of Liverpool for three seasons before Barcelona got his services in 2010 and won His ranks the Champions League twice in 2011 and 2015 and the Spanish League four times.
After winning 18 titles in the ranks of the Catalan team, Mascherano played the Chinese League before returning to Argentina and joining Estudiantes in late 2019, but he did not play with his team many matches due to the outbreak of the new Corona virus and the suspension of local activity.
Mascherano played 147 international matches with the Argentine national team (a local record) and won with the national team the Olympic gold in Athens in 2004 and a medal of the same metal four years later in Beijing.
© 2020 AFP
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