Javier Shown The Red & Others

In England....

As Mentioned By Seba

Character is something you have to have to succeed in the world of football.

A player without it is a forgettable player. He can have good games, bad games or excellent games, but people will eventually forget about them.

But there are a lot of ways to have character. To ask for the ball a zillion times after you've been kicked all over the park and keep going at defenders without complaining takes a lot of character, even many think that to have character a player must come in with a crunching sliding tackle or talk to the ref or fire up the supporters.

Well...if you have that kind of character, you are liable of living on the edge all the time.

That's MASCHERANO's case. He goes for everything all the time. He doesn't save anything for later and he gives his all in every ball he plays.

And on Sunday, against Manchester United, he went over the line. No doubt about it. He looked nervous and he had that look in his eye every time he went to have a word with the referee.

In a derby as crucial as it was (I believe that Liverpool is completely out of contention after this result), you are supposed to be able to control your temper and use it to your advantage. Masche did just the opposite. He lost it.

In one of the earliest actions in the match, after a strong foul that the referee signaled but wasn't going to give him a yellow for that, Javier clearly gestured and told the referee to "Fxxk off".

I believe MASCHERANO doesn't have a complete control of the English language and everybody knows that the first words you learn are: "the book is on the table" and "fxxk off". Right? But he shouldn't be saying those things to the referee under no circumstances.

It doesn't matter if your pulse is beating over 300. There are no excuses. He is a professional athlete and he should behave better.

What happened after his yellow? He continued gesturing and talking to the ref. After Fernando TORRES was booked for a hard challenge, MASCHERANO, who had no business doing there, said something else to the man in black and he was sent for an early shower. Leaving Liverpool with 10 men and doomed.

Xabi ALONSO, Steven GERRARD and I would think the entire KOP were trying to stop a crazy Masche that wanted to continue arguing with the referee.

Even Rafa BENITEZ had to leave his comfy seat to stop the Argentina midfielder and said a few words in his own language.

It was very sad to see a quality player like MASCHERANO losing his temper like that and not making the most of his unique character. He still has all it takes to become a legend at Anfield Road and I'm sure he'll continue with his great career there.

Hopefully it was a lesson that Masche has learned now. Because I wouldn't like to see something like this when he plays for Argentina.

I’ve also almost forgot that Mauro ZARATE scored for Birmingham City during the weekend.

Apart from this, the rest of the goals from the Albiceleste camp came from some of the second tier leagues in Europe.

In Greece…

Javier wasn’t the only player that got the boot from the referee. The story of Mauro MILANO was even more ironic when you think about it.

After scoring a consolation goal for Asteras Tripoli in the 69th minute against Panionios, only to receive his marching order in just three minutes later. The final score was a 4-1 loss for Asteras.

Luciano GALLETTI and Fernando BELLUSCHI inspired Olympiacos in the 3-1 comeback win over Levadiakos.

Facundo PARRA was the hero for Larissa after scoring the equalizer in the 84th minute in their 1-1 draw against Aris Salonika.

In Belgium…

Nicolas FRUTOS scored a penalty in the 63rd minute to give visiting side Anderlecht a 3-0 lead against KAA Gent, but not before the home side pull two goals in last three minutes.