asks to save an opponent from expulsion

An unexpected gesture that warmed everyone’s hearts, even his rivals. In his friendly match Argentina against Bolivia Javier Mascherano he avoided sending off one of the opposing players so as not to distort the match after just 13 minutes: playing the entire match in numerical superiority would have given him a significant advantage and for this reason the technical commissioner asked to be able to commute that sanction into a change.

Mascherano avoids sending an opponent off

These scenes are not often seen, yet the former Barcelona player wanted to make a very classy gesture towards the Bolivia Under 20 team who they risked being left with 10 men for over 75 minutes. It would have been a huge disadvantage and Mascherano decided not to take advantage of it: being a friendly match he needed to test his Argentina in the best conditions and such a prolonged numerical superiority would certainly have distorted the match by unbalancing it on his side.

And eco because when the Bolivian Nathan Tito he was sent off in the 13th minute after a very hard tackle Lautaro Millan Mascherano himself intervened to mediate. The Albiceleste was already 1-0 ahead and was awaiting a completely downhill match which, however, would not have put it to the test as it should. The coach intervened, as shown in the images, and remained in conversation with the referee and the opposing coach: in a few minutes he convinced everyone to withdraw the red card and switch the expulsion to a simple substitution.

The referee accepted, sent the expelled player to the bench and allowed the Bolivia coach to make a substitution so as to continue the match at 11 against 11. In the end Argentina won 4-0 and Mascherano was able to thoroughly test all the players and his strategies without “help”.