Mascherano – Liverpool is my priority, forget Barcelona!
The Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano says that winning a place at the World Cup was important for him, but his priority is to play well for Liverpool.
He says that the long flights from South America after international games is leaving him too exhausted to perform to the best of his ability for Liverpool.
“I spent 20 hours on a plane coming back from South America,” he said. “When I got here, all of us who had been away with our countries wanted to play and we all wanted to win. But, in that situation, it’s tough. That’s not an excuse. It’s the reality.
“After a flight like that, you are never 100 per cent. You cannot be. It takes time to recover so all you can do is give your best.
‘With so many games for club and country, I’ve been too busy. When our season here is finished then I will think about the World Cup. It was important to qualify. But Liverpool is just as important for me. This is my club and I live here. This is my priority.”
Many fans have been saying that Mascherano’s bad form this season is because of the Barcelona’s attempt to take him to Spain in the summer, but he insists that thas has not affected him.
He said: ‘Everyone knows Barcelona were interested in me but that’s in the past now. Liverpool said no and that’s the end of it. Some might say I haven’t been playing well because Barcelona tried to buy me.
‘I agree I haven’t been at my best but it’s not because of that. I just haven’t started the season well.”
Well at least he has admitted he is not playing to his best form. And, hopefully, now that Argentina have secured their place at the World Cup, he can get his head down and start concentrating on his club. It’s time for him to prove that Liverpool really is his priority.
