Javier Mascherano believes he owes his Barcelona career to Nicklas Bendtner mis-controlling a ball. In an interview with Sid Lowe in the Guardian today, he told the story from the 2011 Champions League quarter-final.
Mascherano was in his first season at Barcelona and felt a touch fraudulent. He patently wasn't the Barcelona type. And he had a nagging sense that, after seven months in the Nou Camp, the Arsenal game might be his last for the club.
Arsenal had won 2-1 in London and Barca had, as expected, overturned that advantage to lead 4-3 on aggregate entering the closing stages.
However, in injury time, Jack Wilshire slipped the ball into Bendtner who went one-on-one with Valdes. His touch was clunky and Mascherano slid in and took the ball to safety. Barca advanced and proceeded to demolish Manchester United in the final in Wembley.
Honestly, after five, six months I thought it was unlikely I’d be here long: my characteristics seemed to go against everything Barcelona stood for. That moment marked me. If Bendtner had controlled the ball and gone the other way, he’d have got away from me and … uffff! … I don’t know what would’ve happened. But it happened the way it happened and we ended up winning that Champions League. Things worked out well.
Since then, Mascherano has been recast as a defender. While he was one of the most influential players at the 2014 World Cup in his old position in midfield, Mascherano believes he has found his home at the back.
Read the interview here.
Johnny Giles and Ronnie Whelan, hardened critics of his back in 2010, might approve of the switch.
