Lionel Messi's former teammate confessed he refused to play a game so he could be transferred to FC Barcelona

Javier Mascherano has revealed in an interview with Four Four Two magazine that his arrival at Barça in the summer of 2010 was possible in only one way: he refused to play a Premier League match against Manchester City when he was a Liverpool player, to thus pressuring a management that was not willing to sell him after assuring him otherwise.

"I had a meeting with the technical director at that time, Christian Purslow, who told me that I could leave if a good offer came. Then there was a proposal on the table, but Liverpool looked the other way," confesses the former Argentine defender . Liverpool did not fulfill their promise and Mascherano decided to take action on the matter; He declared himself in absentia in the face of the game that the Reds had to play against City.

A decision that Mascherano is not very proud of, but admits that he did it out of necessity: "On the one hand, the Liverpool fans were not happy with me at all and I understand why. On the other hand, the board at that time had me promised something and did not keep his word, "declares the former West Ham, among other teams.

Likewise, Mascherano explains that putting pressure on Liverpool was the only way to defuse the situation: "I was quite angry that they did not keep their word. Refusing to play against City was the only way to show my discomfort. I told the club that I wanted to. I am leaving for family reasons. The way I acted did not please me, but there was no other option because otherwise Liverpool would never have kept their promise".

Finally, Mascherano headed to Barcelona in 2010. Josep Guardiola recruited him into his ranks to occupy the position of defensive midfielder, however, circumstances made the coach bet on the Argentine definitively as a central defender. Mascherano played alongside Gerard Piqué and did not do badly in his first season as a Barça player, as he won the League and the Champions League. In 2018, he said goodbye to Barça after playing 334 games and lifting 19 titles.

Javier Mascherano's tenure at FC Barcelona