Switzerland is a country that is so immaculately clean that it is hard to imagine it having any flies. But if there are, then the place for them to be yesterday would have been on the wall of Rafa Benitez’s temporary office in Badra Gaz.
Whatever was said between the Liverpool manager and the recently returned Javier Mascherano will rightly remain private but one can only imagine the tone of the conversation that took place.
Because every time Mascherano has been linked with a move to Barcelona over the past couple of months without the Reds midfielder doing his utmost to distance himself from such talk the more Benitez must surely have bristled with indignation.
So much so that the Liverpool manager recently only just stopped short of publicly rebuking the Argentinian, deciding instead to remind him that he owes his club a debt of loyalty – and rightly so.
When Mascherano was rescued from West Ham reserves by Benitez his status as one of the world’s finest holding midfielders was diminishing faster than Gordon Brown’s reputation.
His morale had fallen to such an extent that Diego Maradona’s “monster” of a footballer was actually being kept out of the Hammers first eleven by current Portsmouth plodder Hayden Mullins.
Since coming under Benitez’s guidance Mascherano has got his mojo back and Maradona is so pleased with his resurgence in form that he insists his Argentina team is “Mascherano plus ten others”.
In fact his rehabilitation has been so complete and so rapid that Anfield could soon rival the Priory as the nation’s finest therapy centre for broken stars.
Mascherano should remember this and he should also recall the start of last season when he was allowed to captain Argentina at the Olympics at a time when he should really have been playing for the people who pay his wages.
Interestingly, Lionel Messi – who has been quoted in the Spanish media several times beckoning Mascherano to the Nou Camp – was initially denied the chance to travel to Beijing by Barcelona only for the Spanish giants to relent at the last minute following pressure from the player.
Mascherano had no such problems with Liverpool as Benitez bowed to the 25-year-old’s wish to try and become only the second sportsman in the history of his country to win two Olympic gold medals, a feat he duly achieved.
So when he looks at those glittering gongs and reflects on his place in Argentinian sporting folklore he should also contemplate the fact that neither would have been possible without the benevolent blessing of Benitez and the backing of his club.
Mascherano owes Liverpool. He owes them for rescuing his career and for allowing him to follow his Olympic dream.
No doubt Benitez has reminded him of this while also pointing out that Barcelona is hardly a logical cure for Argentinian homesickness.
Whatever was said between the Liverpool manager and the recently returned Javier Mascherano will rightly remain private but one can only imagine the tone of the conversation that took place.
Because every time Mascherano has been linked with a move to Barcelona over the past couple of months without the Reds midfielder doing his utmost to distance himself from such talk the more Benitez must surely have bristled with indignation.
So much so that the Liverpool manager recently only just stopped short of publicly rebuking the Argentinian, deciding instead to remind him that he owes his club a debt of loyalty – and rightly so.
When Mascherano was rescued from West Ham reserves by Benitez his status as one of the world’s finest holding midfielders was diminishing faster than Gordon Brown’s reputation.
His morale had fallen to such an extent that Diego Maradona’s “monster” of a footballer was actually being kept out of the Hammers first eleven by current Portsmouth plodder Hayden Mullins.
Since coming under Benitez’s guidance Mascherano has got his mojo back and Maradona is so pleased with his resurgence in form that he insists his Argentina team is “Mascherano plus ten others”.
In fact his rehabilitation has been so complete and so rapid that Anfield could soon rival the Priory as the nation’s finest therapy centre for broken stars.
Mascherano should remember this and he should also recall the start of last season when he was allowed to captain Argentina at the Olympics at a time when he should really have been playing for the people who pay his wages.
Interestingly, Lionel Messi – who has been quoted in the Spanish media several times beckoning Mascherano to the Nou Camp – was initially denied the chance to travel to Beijing by Barcelona only for the Spanish giants to relent at the last minute following pressure from the player.
Mascherano had no such problems with Liverpool as Benitez bowed to the 25-year-old’s wish to try and become only the second sportsman in the history of his country to win two Olympic gold medals, a feat he duly achieved.
So when he looks at those glittering gongs and reflects on his place in Argentinian sporting folklore he should also contemplate the fact that neither would have been possible without the benevolent blessing of Benitez and the backing of his club.
Mascherano owes Liverpool. He owes them for rescuing his career and for allowing him to follow his Olympic dream.
No doubt Benitez has reminded him of this while also pointing out that Barcelona is hardly a logical cure for Argentinian homesickness.
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