- Former Liverpool and Barcelona player has announced his retirement from professional football
- Mascherano played 649 club games after making his senior debut in 2003
- He overtook Javier Zanetti to become Argentina’s most-capped player in 2018
- Mascherano won two Champions Leagues and five LaLiga crowns at Barcelona
- Mental Health and Psychosocial considerations during the COVID-19
Former Liverpool and Barcelona midfielder Javier Mascherano has announced his retirement from football at the age of 36.
Mascherano, the most-capped player in Argentina’s history, made the announcement in a press conference at his current club, Estudiantes.
He said:
‘I want to announce that today I am retiring from soccer professionally.
‘I want to thank this club that gave me the opportunity to finish my career in Argentina.
‘I lived my profession 100%, to the maximum that I possibly can, and for a while now that has been getting harder.
‘Sometimes you don’t choose the end, it happens all by itself.’
Mascherano then won five LaLiga and Copa del Rey crowns with Barcelona, as well as two Champions Leagues and a pair of Club World Cup titles, while also playing an instrumental role in Argentina’s passage to the World Cup final in 2014.
Mascherano also overtook Javier Zanetti’s caps record of 143 in 2018, finishing with the princely total of 147.
