Javier Mascherano : El Jefecito

Argentinian midfielder Mascherano was one of the most prominent players for Argentina and Barcelona even a few years ago. He is known for his strong tackle, intense workload and also as a good playmaker. For his short height he is known as The Little Chiefs (in local language it is called El Jefecito).
Javier started his career at a very early age from the famous Argentinian club Riverplate. He was at the Riverplate Youth Academy and got his training there. Surprisingly, he made his International debut before making his club debut. On 16th July 2003, He made his debut in a friendly against Uruguay. It was Diego Milito who scored both goals for Argentina but the bigger news wasn’t the double by Milito but that the 19 year old had started.
Halfway through the 2003–04 Apertura championship, he was called up for the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship where he was instrumental in Argentina’s fourth-place finish. By then he started playing for his team Riverplate and also started getting big offers across the Atlantic. But he stayed there for the next season.
But the next season was very disappointing for them as they finished third in the Apertura Championship. Brazilian club Corinthians acquired his services for a reported £10.62m million.After joining Corinthians in the mid-season, he featured in only 9 matches followed by a long injury spell but still, the team went on to win the 2005 Série A championship.
Finally he moved to Europe to play at EPL. West was his first home in EPL but he stayed there for a small time. He made only 7 appearances there before moving to the EPL giant Liverpool. He played 4 seasons for the club at Merseyside where he didn’t win a cup or an individual recognition but was held in high esteem by the Liverpool fans, who gave him his own song. He made 139 appearances for the club finding the net twice.
In 2010 he moved to Barcelona and considered it to be the best decision of his life. He got to play with the best in the world and also with his fellow Argentinian Leo Messi. He won every major tournament that a European club can win and grabbed 19 trophies. He spent almost seven and a half seasons here .
He also played his role for the Argentinian side. His slide tackle against Robben in the FIFA 2014 semifinal is considered to be one of the best defensive tackles ever made. Along with Messi he is also denied to touch the World cup in 2014 and that is probably the low point in his life.