Javier Mascherano

Javier Mascherano believes that Barcelona should have performed well at the Camp Nou against Atletico Madrid.

The Catalan club were knocked out of the Champions League after a 3-2 defeat on aggregate. Even though Atletico were on top in the first half of the first leg, Barcelona came back strongly in the second half although they were helped by the red card to striker Fernando Torres. Barcelona scored two goals to finish the game 2-1. This was seen as a strong result at home despite conceding the away goal. Yet, the latter proved to be the decisive aspect in the tie.

Javier Mascherano says that Barcelona are feeling confident about their hopes of reaching the Champions League semi-final.

The club secured a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid in the first leg at the Camp Nou. However, there have been several warning signs about the club’s poor form in recent weeks. Following the recent loss in the El Clasico to Real Madrid, Barcelona could have easily lost this game had it not been for the referee sending-off Fernando Torres with 30 minutes left in the game. Hence, there is a feeling that Atletico may give a much tougher competition especially since the second leg is at the Vicente Calderon.

In these last few weeks, Barcelona has suffered a string of negative results not only in the Spanish League but also in the Champions League, but despite everything that has been happening Mascherano is confident that his team are still aiming to win all the major trophies of this season.

"We choose to go for all titles. We are the league leaders although the gap has been narrowed. Our current form has not been the best, obviously considering how we were doing.

Javier Mascherano appears to have found the perfect home in the form of Barcelona, as he continues to play an important role for the Catalan club even after several years.

Even though he has been deployed by several Barcelona managers as a central defender, he continues to play in the midfield for Argentina. At 31 years of age, he is one of the experienced members of the Barcelona team. After having won numerous accolades with the club, there has been the talk of Mascherano retiring at the Camp Nou. Several South American players have played for the Spanish club, but have chosen to end their careers back in their home country.

Barcelona recently progressed to the final of the Club World Cup after a comfortable 3-0 win over Chinese outfitGuangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC.

Luis Suarez turned out to be the hero for the Catalan club once again after his hat-trick. The club were overwhelming favourites to lift the Club World Cup, which has been dominated by European teams in the last decade. They will now face River Plate in the final of the competition. Prior to the emergence of European teams in the competition, South Americans used to be highly successful since they paid a lot of attention.

Midfielder Javier Mascherano has claimed that the recent 4-1 defeat for Barcelona against Celta de Vigo has left him with a bad taste in the mouth.

It was the first loss of the season for the Catalan club and the one that came in surprising circumstances. They were fully expected to continue their 100% start to the season. However, there have been recent wobbles from the reigning champions and the home team fully exploited the deficiencies. Barcelona’s impressive attack featuring the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar has been able to get the club out of trouble more often than not. However, they could only manage one goal against the home team.

The Argentine national football side has not won any major title since 1993 which was the last time when Argentina won the Copa America. They had the chance of lifting the 2015 edition of the Copa America on July 4 as Argentina faced off with Chile in the finals but ultimately lost in penalty session.

Argentina were the favorites of winning the 2015 Copa America as the squad has some of the most talented players in the world including: Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria, Javier Pastore, Sergio Aguero and EzequielLavezzi just to name a few.

Even with all of that talent, it wasn’t enough as Chile came out on top with the victory.

Things haven’t been going so well for the Argentine national football team as they lost in the finals of the 2014 World Cup when playing against Germany and now failed to defeat Chile. The national of Argentina have been performing impressively but just come out short and struggle to push until the end.

Barcelona midfielder Javier Mascherano says that the club might have answered some critics after a brilliant win over Atletico Madrid.

The 3-1 win over the reigning league champions is a clear statement of intent according to Mascherano, who was part of the Barcelona team that were defeated 1-0 by relegation threatened the Real Sociedad after the season resumed in the first week of January.

The defeat raised further questions about manager Luis Enrique, who has been questioned a lot since the 3-1 defeat against Real Madrid several months ago. Even though Barcelona remain within touching distance of Madrid, Enrique has not been seen good enough to lead the team.

Javier Mascherano was part of the Argentine team that lost 1-0 to Germany in the World Cup 2014 final.

The midfielder may have just turned 30 years of age, but he remains an integral part of the Argentina team. He has the right mixture of experience and playing capabilities to be a force even at the next World Cup. The Barcelona defender, though, has revealed that he considered the possibility of retiring from international duty after the World Cup. Since making his debut in 2003, Mascherano has gone on to make more than 100 appearances for the national team.

Louis Saha has said that his compatriot Robert Pires is a great signing for the Indian club FC Goa.
Saha believes that the 40-year old play maker is a class act and no matter in which tournament he plays, he always looks to win.
In a British television programme, Saha was quoted as saying, “Robert is very elegant. You can travel miles to watch such players. He is an absolute pleasure to the eye. It’s good for ISL that he has signed up. He is going to light up the tournament there in India.”
“He has been out of the game for three years now but, knowing him I can tell you, he would try as hard as he can to guide his team to glory. He’s a motivated personality and spending time with him will be good for the young Goa players. He would be passing a lot of key advices to them.”