Argentina's dramatic qualification into the World Cup finals after an underwhelming and problematic campaign can be an inspiration to Liverpool, who have lost four games on the spin. That is the opinion of Albicelestes captain Javier Mascherano, who calls on the Reds to aid under-fire manager Rafael Benitez by ending their poor form when they host Manchester United on Sunday.
"I am relaxed now that Argentina have qualified for the World Cup finals, I can concentrate only on Liverpool," the 25-year-old defensive midfielder explained in British broadsheet The Telegraph.
"I can think of Liverpool and not Argentina. This is not a good situation at the club, and I want to give Liverpool my best.
"I am captain of my country, and we were really under pressure in the final two qualifying games; people said we were out, that was very difficult.
"But we won both those games. We have qualified. Maybe it will be the same for Liverpool now if we start to win, things will start to happen for us like they did for my country.
"We must not think of the past. We must beat United for ourselves, for our supporters, for the team. We must keep going. We have a very important game now with Manchester United. We must stop thinking and worrying about what happened against Lyon.
"If we can beat United then the confidence will be back, it is important to do that."
The rear-guard protector hopes that their recent form over the Premier League champions will play into their favour at Anfield.
"We beat them twice last season. We know what we are capable of. Hopefully our form will be like that on Sunday. We have to do the right things and put away our chances.
"It is a difficult situation, we have lost four in a row. But do not forget that is a team who last season were doing very well, we must keep going and working. We must win the next game, against Manchester United. If you have confidence you can do anything.
"The team is not playing well, and a lot of players are not in the best form. That is not good and we are losing confidence, but we have to believe that we can overcome this."
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