Grateful Mascherano Vows To Repay Rafa - With Silverware

Double Olympic gold medal winner Javier Mascherano has promised to repay Rafa Benitez for allowing him to compete with Argentina in Beijing by helping to drive Liverpool to a major trophy this season.

Liverpool’s Argentine midfielder Javier Mascherano acknowledges that he owes manager Rafa Benitez a debt of gratitude after the Spaniard let him pursue his Olympic dream of winning a second gold medal.

Mascherano, 24, was in the successful Argentina team that won the Olympic football tournament in Beijing, four years after he also won Olympic gold with the Albiceleste in Athens.

And in an interview with Liverpool’s official website, Mascherano said that despite the long journey back from China earlier in the week, he was raring to go, starting at Villa Park on Sunday.

"I am feeling really good. Obviously I still need to adapt to the training again because it's totally different to how you train with an international team," he told liverpool.tv.

"I feel ready for Aston Villa but it depends on what Rafa thinks.

"I won the gold not just for me but for all the Liverpool fans, my team-mates who were here working hard, and for Rafa as well. Rafa and the club gave me the chance to win this gold medal – they could have told me I couldn't go.

"I have to say 'thank-you' to everyone here at the club and also the fans for understanding. I will now try to do my best to help bring some titles to Liverpool.

"I don't know how a Premier League or Champions League win would compare to an Olympic medal because I haven't won them, but I know the Olympics are maybe a step down from the Champions League - even though it was very important for me because of the history and for my country."

Mascherano became the first Argentine footballer to win two Olympic gold medals, but he revealed: "Some of the [Liverpool] physios and the doctor asked me if they could see the gold medal but I don't like to do that. The Olympic Games has gone.

"But of course I am very happy. It's a great feeling for me and my country.

"It's amazing to think I am the first Argentinean to win two gold medals like this. As the years pass, I'll tell my daughter and children about it. The medals are in Liverpool but as soon as I get the chance to go back to Argentina I will take them with me."

Mascherano played against club-mates Ryan Babel of Holland and Lucas of Brazil in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, respectively.

He explained: "I could enjoy the situation for my country, but it's not easy when you beat some of your team-mates who you spend the whole year with in the same city.

"Maybe Lucas and Ryan wanted to win the gold medals as well, so it's a difficult moment. Okay, I was happy to beat Brazil but Lucas was very sad, so I obviously tried to be respectful.

"But this is football. There are no hard feelings and now we'll work together to help Liverpool. We have forgotten about it."

When asked if he is targeting a third Olympic gold when the Games are staged in London in 2012, Mascherano said: "It would be a great opportunity for me because I live in England. We will see but it would be fantastic to play in an Olympics in London."

» Mascherano Makes History In Beijing
» Rafa: Cups More Important Than Cash
» Rafa's Barbed United Insight