Javier Mascherano must be pretty pretty stupid if he thinks anyone is going to believe his claims that he was the innocent party on Sunday. The Argentine may not have sounded off any expletives to earn his second yellow card of the game against Manchester United, but previous foul-mouthed retorts in the direction of the referee rightly saw the Liverpool midfielder get his marching orders. Why not shut your mouth and get on with the game?
The Guardian reports that Mascherano is likely to be suspended for two additional games, on top of the Merseyside derby this Sunday. The FA are likely to charge the player with improper conduct, despite the following statement from the youngster:
“I do not know why I was sent off. I asked the referee what was happening. I did not swear, I was not aggressive and I did not confront him. All I did was ask him what was happening, nothing else. So when he showed me the second yellow card and sent me off I could not believe it. I am sorry to my team-mates because that meant we went down to 10 men and that made things even more difficult for us.”
Why did he feel the need to race over and question Steve Bennett’s decision to brandish the yellow card in Fernando Torres’ direction? He’s not the Liverpool captain, nor will he ever be with behaviour like this. Sure, he felt a sense of injustice but it’s clear he was overly fired up from the start of the match and will be a liability for the Reds if he continues playing like this.