Javier Mascherano once told Liverpool supporters what he really thought of them over 10 years after leaving

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Liverpool supporters became used to the heartbreak of seeing top players leave the club throughout the 2010s.

The Reds had built a fearsome team under Rafael Benitez heading into the end of the 2000s, almost winning the Premier League as the decade came to a close.

However, things took a turn before the new one even got underway, with Xabi Alonso leaving for Real Madrid in 2009.

As matters worsened on the pitch – and Benitez was sacked – Fernando Torres pushed his way out, before the second half of the decade saw the likes of Raheem Sterling, Luis Suarez and, finally, Philippe Coutinho leave.

One player who is sometimes overlooked from this parade of exiting stars is Liverpool‘s former central midfield general, Javier Mascherano.

Like Torres, Mascherano forced an exit from Anfield, refusing to play in order to hammer through a transfer to Barcelona in August 2010. However, more than 11 years on from his departure, Mascherano spoke out to hail the Liverpool fans he’d left behind.

Liverpool fans treated Javier Mascherano like no other

Liverpool’s team that came so close to glory in 2008/09 truly was a special one. And Mascherano was a big part of that.

Although he went on to win it all at Barcelona while a part of Pep Guardiola’s super team, the Argentinian spoke to Four Four Two in March 2021 to explain that he had never felt love like that of the Liverpool fans.

“Yes, I’m a Liverpool supporter. I really mean it,” Mascherano said, after also admitting regret at the manner in which he left the club.

“Nobody has ever treated me as well as Liverpool fans did – never. Throughout the three and a half years there, they made me feel like I was one of them; like I was at home. That’s why I dedicated Barca’s 2011 Champions League Final win against Manchester United to them: it was the least I could do to pay them back somehow. I knew they weren’t happy, and I wanted to share the moment with them.”

READ MORE: Fernando Torres revealed what he really loved about Scousers one year before leaving Liverpool

Mascherano also lifted the lid on why he felt he had to leave Liverpool following Roy Hodgson’s appointment in 2010. Interestingly, he claimed it had nothing to do with football.

“I was really happy in Liverpool, but it was tough for my wife and daughters,” explained the now Inter Miami manager. “Although I was playing regularly and the supporters loved me – and they’re extraordinary people – the issue was that I trained for three or four hours a day and had 20 hours left to stay at home.

“It’s difficult to see your family unhappy and unsettled because of the language, the weather… I needed to go somewhere else for the wellbeing of my loved ones.”

Mascherano is still underrated at Liverpool

Perhaps it is partly because of the cloud which hung over his departure, maybe it was because he never won anything with Liverpool, but Mascherano is quite possibly underrated on Merseyside.

Those too young to have properly watched the man nicknamed ‘El Jefe,’ will maybe never know the true impact he had, simply because few seem to still mention his name.

In reality, though, Mascherano was a big part of why Liverpool were able to go up a level under Benitez in 2008/09.

Still yet to arrive into his peak years alongside Alonso – and with Steven Gerrard and Torres ahead of him – the Argentine was ferociously combative in a manner which would make even Fabinho blush.

Mascherano will, of course, forever be thought of more for his role at Barcelona than Liverpool, but it is clear that he also cherished the time he spent with the Reds. And that should not be forgotten either.