Stanislav Sklyar
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Liverpool trio of the 2000s: Gerrard, Alonso, and Mascherano
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#Article about sports
Since Jürgen Klopp's time and to this day, the team has had magnificent midfielders. Recalling the Henderson — Wijnaldum — Milner combinations, or when one of them shared a spot with Fabinho or Tiaago. And now Arne Slot also has excellent midfielders — Gravenberch, McAllister, and Soboslay, who can be replaced by Endo, Johnson, or Elliott if necessary.
But I want to dig deeper — into the era of Rafael Benítez, in the early 2000s, when the midfield of Liverpool was cemented by Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, and Steven Gerrard.
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All three have long since finished their playing careers and moved into coaching. Gerrard, with Rangers, won the first Scottish championship in 10 years, Bayer under Alonso's management became the German champion for the first time in history and also took the national cup, and Mascherano, who previously coached Argentine youth teams, recently took charge of Messi and Suárez's club — Inter Miami.
Coaching is, of course, great. But what was this trio like on the field?
They played together for about two years. In 2004, the then-manager of the Reds wanted to strengthen the midfield with a quality playmaker. "But there was Stevie," you might reasonably exclaim, and you'd be right. However, Benítez had his own plans for Alonso.
Rafael personally insisted on Xabi's transfer from Real Sociedad. At that time, their namesake from Madrid lost the battle for the talented midfielder to Liverpool. Florentino Pérez later admitted that missing out on Alonso was a huge mistake. The "Creams" returned for Xabi five years later — but that's another story. The English club paid about ten and a half million pounds for the player. Now it sounds funny, considering Alonso's level and modern transfer prices.
Gerrard and Alonso in one team — any coach's dream. Both with excellent passing and vision of the field. But what is their difference? Why did Benítez insist so much on Alonso?
Steven was a master of long shots, risky and incisive passes, advancing the ball forward, while Alonso played the role of a conductor — received the ball, raised his head, and launched precise diagonal passes 60 meters to his teammates' feet.
At that time, Mascherano had not yet moved to Europe. He played for his native River Plate and was considered one of South America's best holding midfielders. When Gerrard and Alonso were collecting their fifth Champions League trophy, Mascherano was just transferring to Brazilian Corinthians.
By the way, I don't know if you're aware or not, this fact is not particularly relevant to our today's article, but it's hard not to mention — Mascherano debuted for the Argentine national team even before playing his first match for his club. Amazing!
In 2006, he set out to conquer the Old Continent — to West Ham. However, things didn't go well: legal issues, poor fit with the team's style, weak English skills — all limited his playing time to 5 matches over six months.
At Liverpool, during this time, they continued assembling the puzzle — Benítez saw Mascherano as the missing element. He needed a pure destroyer, a "chain dog," if you will, who would give freedom to Alonso and allow Gerrard to go higher in attack. As a result, Mascherano became a Red, and the long-awaited triangle Gerrard — Alonso — Mascherano finally came together.