Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Mascherano: Scoring Was So Very Special

Midfielder Javier Mascherano has admitted that the delight of scoring his first Liverpool goal sent him ‘crazy’.

The Argentina international had only netted once in his previous 111 senior matches and that came for River Plate in Argentina before he went on to turn out for Corinthians in Brazil and both West Ham and Liverpool in the Premier League.

However, the 23-year-old broke his Anfield duck in spectacular style with a stunning 20-yard effort in front of the Kop against Reading on Saturday.

He said: “It was an incredible moment.

“I had not scored a goal since I was at River Plate, so to score one for Liverpool – and in front of the Kop as well – was really special.

“I cannot really describe the feeling but I know I celebrated like I had gone crazy. Some of the lads in the dressing room said I was like Inzaghi in the Champions League final!

“It just meant so much to me and it was important also for the team because we had just gone a goal behind.”

However, Mascherano has warned Liverpool fans not to expect regular goals from him now that he has registered his first effort.

The £18million signing, is reckoned by manager Rafael Benitez to be the best holding midfielder in the world and the Spaniard insisted that he wants to see the player get into more scoring positions around the edge of the box.

Regarding Benitez’s challenge, Mascherano said: “I think the manager was joking.

“It would be nice to score more goals but I don’t think there are many holding midfielders who score lots of goals.

“In this position you have to play deep and try to keep the balance of the team and that is the most important thing for me.

“I will try to score more goals but I know that I have to do my own job first.”

Benitez is now preparing his side for five crucial games that will define Liverpool’s season.

He said: “We now have a very tough spell. Everyone kept saying that because of that we had to win our three home league games with West Ham, Newcastle and now Reading. We have now done that.

“Now we have really difficult games and we needed these seven wins beforehand.

“Now we have five very hard games, three with Arsenal plus Everton and Manchester United away next week. We will only think of each one as it arrives, you cannot start to worry about what is ahead.”

He added: “The first one is the most important. If we can keep our momentum then it will be easier going into the second one. We must not waste our time thinking too far ahead.

“We started the season playing well, winning a lot of games, scoring plenty of goals and we were unbeaten in the league until December.

“Still we have only lost three league games, our problem has been drawing too many and we are aware of that.

“If we had won just three of those drawn matches things would be very different.”

Liverpool are now eight points behind leaders Manchester United, who they meet on Sunday at Old Trafford.

Benitez said: “How near we finish to the top now will be interesting. We have been criticised this season, but let us see where we are in three or four weeks.

“We have important games and if we win them we will be a lot closer. If we can beat Manchester United we will be closer to the top, and that will give us more confidence.

“If we beat Everton after that then we will be closer still. Maybe, maybe we can be closer if we do not talk too much about it.

“Do we have a point to prove? Maybe, but only if we can keep winning three points.”

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