Mascherano: Unlikely to feature for Reds
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Masch not in mix for Liege tussle
Javier Mascherano is unlikely to be involved in Liverpool's Champions League crunch tie at home to Standard Liege on Wednesday.
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Mascherano helped Argentina to a second consecutive Olympic title in Beijing after his country retained their crown by beating Nigeria in the football final and he is heading back to Merseyside after his triumph.
The 24-year-old midfielder was due to leave China at the weekend, but boss Rafael Benitez does not think he will be prepared enough to face the Belgian champions at Anfield in the third qualifying round, second-leg tie.
The match is poised at 0-0 after Liverpool's alarmingly poor performance a fortnight ago in the first leg in Belgium.
The Reds stand on the brink of losing a minimum of £10million prize money from UEFA if they fail to qualify for the group stages.
Benitez said: "Javier will be back with us soon. But I do not think he will be in contention to play in Europe.
"He has spent too much time travelling and playing, that makes it difficult to be at your best.
"The same thing applied to Ryan Babel. He returned from China last week after Holland were knocked out, but I only really considered him as a substitute at the weekend."
Babel came on for the final 25 minutes of Saturday's 2-1 home win over Middlesbrough, but looked short of fitness.
Brazilian midfielder Lucas has also returned to Liverpool from the Olympics.
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Your Comments
jcosker (Liverpool fan)
"Can't wait for Masch to return to the lineup. He is so important for the control of possession. He will help to free up Stevie in going forward and creating chances by breaking up the opposition's play. Love the guy and he will be brimming with confidence and adrenaline after winning another gold medal."
mathisen (Liverpool fan)
"we have that number 10 player. pacheco is his name, and don`t say he`s to young to play in the prem. if you are good enough yur old enough. Especially in the front end of the team. remember owen and fowler! "
PedjaLFC (Liverpool fan)
"Glad to see Mascherano back to team! He is to important for us....Also have to say that I am woried about last two LFC match...we still play the long ball game and I think that that is not so good for team(Crouch is gone)....!We can win teams like Sunderland & Boro like that(maybe),but in a big matches we need more creativity and short passing in the midle! we still dont have "number 10" player who's going to run with the ball,and asist to Torres and Keane up front! Players like Diego(Werder)is what we need...but the real question is does Rafa thinks of that at all!??? Kuyt is still not progresing,and Yossi is worse than last season! Americans and Parry should do better job,and buy players ore the fans will be very upset after all the promises that they made...
Hope to see my club win some trphy this season...YNWA!!! Pedja SERBIA"
martinthomson
"What a shambles that was last night for LFC. Liverpool couldn't even play basic football and in particular the simple pass and move. Find the nerarest player and pass and keep on passing until a opening appears then play the killer pass. It's all about being patient but instead we resorted the 60-70 yard passes and continously kept on losing the ball therefore bringing on unneccessary pressure. We then became very narrow and kept on trying to play give and goes through the middle of the pitch which was to over crowded. Therefore we would loose the ball,they would play the long wide ball out to the flanks, whip in crosses and give JC and DA a torrid time. Thank god Pepe had a blinder."
Ravin_D (Liverpool fan)
"I was happy to see Babel come on as a substitute against Middlesborough. We really need his speed on the flanks to take away the focus on Torres and Keane. Unfortunately, i was utterly disappointed by the lack of ball action that the team directed to him. He did not recieve the ball for long periods. Alonso was also utterly disappointing with all his corners. I really hope he can step up soon and become the Liverpool legend that he is destined to become! YNWA!"
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