Mascherano eyes glorious new beginning
Javier Mascherano has targeted title glory in his debut Chinese Super League season.
The Argentina international arrived at Hebei China Fortune in January in a deal worth around $6.7 million.
Deployed as a defensive midfielder, the former Barcelona and Liverpool utility player couldn’t inspire his new team to an opening victory as Hebei drew 1-1 at Tianjin Teda on Saturday.
Last week, speaking at a news conference in Wuhan, where the team held a preseason training camp, the 33-year-old was brimming with optimism about the new campaign.
“My personal goal is to help the team to get a better result than last season,” said Mascherano.
“And as a team, our goal is to win the CSL championship. For me, I will try 100 percent my best to help the team.”
Mascherano has been reunited with former national teammate Ezequiel Lavezzi at China Fortune, but said it was the club’s Chilean former Manchester City coach, Manuel Pellegrini, who persuaded him Hebei was the right move.
The pair’s paths crossed in the early 2000s when Pellegrini was at the helm of Mascherano’s first club, River Plate in Argentina.
“Before I came to China, I spoke to Manuel Pellegrini,” said Mascherano. “He expressed his hope and requirements for me, wishing that I could use my experience to lead the team to get better results this season.
“Pellegrini knew me in the very early time of my career, and knows my character and my current situation. He hopes I can help the club to go further.”
After finishing just outside AFC Champions League qualification in fourth place last season, Hebei’s top priority is a top-three finish this term — and Mascherano said the club team was ready to hit the ground running.
“I’m ready, and most importantly, our team is ready,” he said. “Soccer is a game of 11 people, and I believe our team is ready to present its best for the new season.”
Hebei was not the only CSL side to strengthen with foreign imports, with Dalian Yifang and Beijing Guo’an also splashing the cash on some relatively big names in a bid to gatecrash the Champions League places.
However, despite acquiring Yannick Carrasco and Nicolas Gaitan from Atletico Madrid for a combined $58 million and Jose Fonte from West Ham for $7 million, Yifang was humiliated 8-0 at Shanghai SIPG on Saturday.
Oscar and Wu Lei each netted a hat-trick in an ominous statement of SIPG’s title intent.
Guo’an, which signed Congolese striker Cedric Bakambu from Spanish side Villarreal in the offseason, also got off to a miserable start, slumping 3-0 at Shandong Luneng as Brazilian Diego Tardelli bagged a brace for the host.
With Carlos Tevez’s shambolic stay at Shanghai Shenhua still fresh in the memory, fans immediately poured scorn on Yifang and Guo’an’s new recruits.
Mascherano, however, is relishing the expectation that comes with being a well-paid foreigner in the CSL.
“Pressure is good for soccer players,” he said. “When I played for Barcelona and Argentina, there was always pressure. We just need to face it and adapt to it.”