I Would Become A Coach - Javier Mascherano

It's a long dream but its highly achieveable. The Argentine international wants to take after the likes of Maradona, Guardiola & Enrique and his certainly hoping to coach Barca & Argentina some day.

Barcelona ace Javier Mascherano has revealed that he wants to become a coach when he calls time on his playing career.

The 31-year-old is in his fifth year at the Catalan club, moving to Camp Nou from Liverpool in 2010 after also representing West Ham, Corinthians and River Plate.

Lionel Messi Makes Early Barca Return

Messi and Mascherano were not due to return to Catalunya until Monday after participating at the Copa America in Chile earlier this summer, but both Argentines have now joined their team-mates four days early.

Furthermore, Neymar and Dani Alves have also returned to Camp Nou after they were given extended holidays after taking part in the Copa, too.

The four South Americans were accompanied by Marc-Andre ter Stegen for Thursday's medical examinations. The German goalkeeper, who played at the European Under-21 Championship, did go on the US Tour, but had yet to take the routine medical checks.

ARGENTINA: Maradona = Messi + Mascherano

Argentina is gripped by a debate over superstar Lionel Messi, who was devastated by losing the Copa America final and has withdrawn into a shocked isolation. Some obervers in his home country say criticism fired at Messi could force him to take a break from national duty.

The 28-year-old football genius left the pitch ashen-faced after Argentina lost the Copa America to Chile in a 4-1 penalty shootout in Santiago on Saturday.

The scenes were reminiscent of last year's World Cup final when Germany beat Argentina in extra time. Then 'Leo' left in tears. Messi first tasted a major defeat in 2007 when Argentina lost 3-0 to old rivals Brazil in the Copa final.

Three International Finals, Three Defeats for Messi & Mascherano

Javier Mascherano and Lionel Messi both suffered their third loss in an international final in Santiago as Chile won the Copa America. Lionel Messi will end his career with an international trophy, Argentina team-mate Ezequiel Lavezzi insisted after Saturday's Copa America loss.

Messi, who has only won titles with Argentina at under-age levels, lost the third major final of his international career in Santiago, with Chile triumphing 4-1 on penalties after the visitors had dominated the goalscoring opportunities through 120 goalless minutes.

Argentina's failure at the Estadio Nacional will only serve to strengthen arguments by critics that Messi will not be truly great until he earns silverware for his country, but Lavezzi reckons it is only a matter of time before he dismisses those doubters.

Barcelona Not Thinking About El Classico - Javier Mascherano

Javier Mascherano claims Barcelona are thinking about their midweek clash with Ajax - not Saturday's Clasico clash with Real Madrid.

The Liga leaders restored their four-point advantage over their great rivals by beating Eibar 3-0 at Camp Nou, with Lionel Messi moving to within one goal of the all-time Spanish top-flight record of 251 after earlier strikes from Xavi and Neymar. The build-up to the first season of the Clasico has already begun but Mascherano insists that Luis Enrique's men are solely concentrating on Tuesday's visit of Ajax.

Criticism Of Lionel Messi Is Based On His High Standard - Javier Mascherano

Barcelona star Javier Mascherano says criticism levelled at team-mate Lionel Messi is excessive and only because his colleague has set the bar so high.

Messi has hit six goals in eight appearances this season for the Blaugrana, with last weekend’s double against Granada seeing him take his career goal tally over the 400 mark. And fellow Argentina international Mascherano believes that the 27-year-old has helped write Barca into history.

"Everything Barca have achieved in recent years has been thanks to players like Messi, [Andres] Iniesta and Xavi,” he told Tot Sant Cugat.

PEEP THIS!!! What Is Wrong With This Picture???

                                                 Mascherano, Suarez and King Messi, lol.....

WORLD CUP: Lionel Messi Not Involved In Team Selection Says Mascherano

Javier Mascherano has hit out at suggestions that Lionel Messi is involved in picking the Argentina starting line-up, insisting the forward would be "incapable" of dropping team-mates.

Messi scored the winning goal in Argentina's World Cup opener against Bosnia-Herzegovina after coach Alejandro Sabella had reverted to a 4-3-3 system, following his side's laboured approach in a 5-3-2 set-up in the first half.

The Barcelona star said earlier this week that the Albiceleste should stick to their favoured system going forward, prompting suggestions that he was unhappy with his coach and even that he is involved in choosing the side for matches.

LA Liga: Javier M ascherano Hints At Exit

Javier Mascherano has dropped the spoiler that he may be leaving Barcelona at the end of the current season. The Argentine hinted that the last Spanish league game at Camp Nou - the Atlético championship decider will be his last match with the club.

"It's great what we've got coming up this week and over the weekend. For some of us, it may be our last game at the club, so it will be a very nice way to say goodbye", the defender revealed.

There has been talk in recent weeks about a possible move for the Argentine centre-back to Napoli, headed up by Rafael Benítez, who coached Mascherano for a number of years at Liverpool.

MASCHERANO: La Liga Out Of Barca's Hands

Javier Mascherano has admitted that Barcelona no longer have their fate in their own hands in the Primera Division title race following Saturday's 1-0 shock defeat against Granada but feels the Catalans were unfortunate to lose.

The Catalans have dropped to third place in the league table behind Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid following this weekend's results and the Argentine has all but conceded defeat.

"The league is no longer in our hands," he was quoted as saying on the club's official website.
"I don’t think the defeat in the Champions League affected us, we created a lot of chances, but the ball didn’t want to go in.