German international Bastian Schweinsteiger has stated that his team are wary of the tackling abilities of midfielder Javier Mascherano. The former Liverpool midfielder was a major reason in Argentina reaching the final of the World Cup 2014. He prevented a number of opportunities for Netherlands in the semi-final by making last-ditch challenges. Germany come into the final after achieving a historic result by beating home team Brazil 7-1 in the semi-final. Hence, they are overwhelming favourites to beat Argentina team that has so far been winning by the odd goal.

Even though all the focus has been on Lionel Messi, Schweinsteiger says that the threat from Mascherano should not be discounted. The Barcelona midfielder has been playing in defence for the last few years and it appears to have improved his tackle abilities even further. He will be coming up against some of the best strikers in the World Cup 2014 in the form of Thomas Müller and Miroslav Klose. Both players are on the verge of creating new records.

Schweinsteiger, however, told the Plain Sailing facebook page that nobody is favourite to win the World Cup final since both teams have proved over the tournament that they are the best of the best.

Germany will be looking to become the first European team to win the tournament in a South American country.

"Javier Mascherano is the leader of a pack of wolves - as he showed with the tackle against Arjen Robben to deny him a goal. You see what kind of attitude he has for his country. It will not be easy for us. Argentina are a very, very good team who are deservedly in the final. They have world-class players with Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria and Sergio Aguero. We have to be patient but if we show our quality on the pitch and we have the necessary cleverness then we can beat this team,” said Schweinsteiger.