Javier Mascherano He is a historic player, not only for the Argentine national team, but also for FC Barcelona and Liverpool, mainly. However, the now U-23 coach of the Albiceleste does not see himself that way and in his last interview in La Nación, half Argentine, he wanted to make it clear.
During the talk, the Little Boss deals with the difficult times and instability of the AFA that he suffered for years as one of the leaders of Argentina, as well as the weight of his figure in Barça.
In this last aspect, linked to the victory of the Argentine team in the World Cup in Qatar, about which he believes that in no way “demonizes” the previous one, of which he was a part and which did not win any title despite reaching final five, believes that titles do not define the size of the mark one leaves. Without going any further, he uses himself as an example: “If the titles take one to the honor roll? No, because individually there were many more important players than me. I won two Champions Leagues with Barça and Ronald Koeman won one, but he is much more important than me in Barcelona. And Rivaldo. And Ronaldo went through Barcelona. I was lucky enough to go through a magnificent team and, at most, without underestimating myself, my only merit was daring to leave the comfort of Liverpool, where I knew I would always be a starter, to move to Barcelona. I adapted, I grew, ok… but it didn’t change too much if there was someone else instead of Mascherano. He did not change the destiny of Barcelona, let’s not fool ourselves. Nor am I the cause of the team’s five defeats in finals. “I’m a part.”
Regarding his career with the national team, whose successes he measures with a different yardstick than those of Barça, Mascherano does not consider himself a historic footballer either. “For me, the world champions remain in history. Clearly, they are the ones who leave the mark. Football is played to win”he confesses in the interview.
He also does not regret any game, including the lost finals with the albiceleste. “What gives meaning to football is living in the moments. I don’t regret having played in the world final, beyond having lost it, because I know what it feels like to play it.. And I’m going to take that with me. And be careful, I’m not fooled: there is a huge difference between winning it or losing it, but I’m left with the positive parts,” she points out.
Completely strip the AFA
Another of the hot points of the interview is found in the famous ‘friends club’, as some addressed the Argentine team at that time. Mascherano shows that this is an annoying issue, especially due to the media ignorance surrounding the nickname: “Which club of friends? The one that had to pay for a charter for the family and to go play in an American final because no one put up the money? The one that had to pay for business tickets to come play?”.
Statements that do not place the AFA in a good place. The ‘Boss’ also clarifies how little the players were in charge, no matter how many speculations there were about the dancing on the bench: “Why didn’t Sabella continue? We couldn’t even convince him. Segura chose Martino after Grondona’s death. Who brought Bauza? The Regularization Committee. Do we ask for it? No, which of us had Bauza? Who brought Sampaoli? Wall. And who had it from us as a technician? None. So what is self-management? Now, let everyone take care of their own thing.”
Guardiola as ‘guru’
Without a doubt, the coach who marked Mascherano the most was Pep Guardiola. They are great friends and, according to the Argentine, The Manchester City coach “is the only one capable of dismantling everything and starting to put something else together”, since “it proposes the evolution of football, because it forces others all the time to try to counteract it.” Furthermore, he states that “Guardiola’s legacy is not the titles, but having changed the football culture of two countries”, and not only that, but that “he did it in two clubs where he was obliged to win.” He thinks that in Spain, supported by Luis Aragonés, his idea had more room, but that “changing Germany and England culturally was impossible to think about.”.
Bor González works as a family doctor. He is in charge of making the most of the cover of Relevo and lifting stones to see what stories they hide. He knew stability at Yahoo! after a thousand adventures with his product in tow like Will Smith. He grew up in a neighborhood without ‘no ball playing’ signs. He made of concrete, mud and Ft-5 triangles. Apprentice of great merchants and empiricists. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but his look is worth a thousand pictures. …
2024-01-21 13:56:59
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