THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Argentina captain Javier Mascherano is drawing on the same fighting spirit that took his underperforming country to the 2010 World Cup as the inspiration to turn around Liverpool’s season.
For months, Mascherano feared Argentina would not qualify for the finals in South Africa, but Diego Maradona’s side ended its campaign earlier this month by beating Uruguay to clinch a spot.
So when Liverpool slumped to a fourth straight loss on Mascherano’s return from international duty, the midfielder’s crisis management mode kicked in again.
"I was living for three to four months in a difficult situation with Argentina," Mascherano told The Associated Press. "So I had the other experience before like (I have) with Liverpool now."
A loss to Manchester United on Sunday would have deepened the depression engulfing Anfield and seriously endangered Liverpool’s Premier League title hopes, but the players pulled off a morale-boosting 2-0 victory over the champion.
"It was difficult for us to lose four games in a row, but now I say, ‘Let’s start again,’ Mascherano said. "Now we have won we cannot stop, and (we will) try to keep going… we are pulling together.
"If we want to fight for something we have to play every game like that. We cannot be relaxed with this win — that is the message."
Fifth in the table, Liverpool trails leader Chelsea as it chases a first English championship crown in 20 years. However, Mascherano viewed Sunday’s victory as "very important for confidence."
"We need to think about continuing winning, not to look at the table and seeing we are six points behind Chelsea," he said. "We have to look forward and not drop important points in the future.
"If we want these three points to be valuable we have to show this performance in the future … Maybe people thought we couldn’t play as we can against the top sides, but (against United) we showed we can and we are really happy."
Victory over United relieved the pressure on manager Rafa Benitez, but Mascherano’s international coach is still feeling the heat despite Argentina’s World Cup qualification.
There have been calls for Maradona’s resignation as FIFA investigates his profanity-filled tirade following that last-gasp 1-0 victory over Uruguay.
Mascherano still believes Maradona, who had virtually no coaching experience when he was hired a year ago, should lead Argentina to the World Cup.
"Diego is a person living in football for more than 30 years and he knows how to manage a lot of things on the football pitch," Mascherano said. "We know we have to improve for the World Cup but now we have time and we are really happy.
"And we are now a little bit relaxed because it was a difficult moment when we didn’t know if we are going to the World Cup or not."