Five years ago Liverpool endured their heaviest defeat by Manchester City for 73 years, losing 3-0, after Mascherano had ruled himself out while his move to Barcelona gathered pace. “Javier Mascherano is not in the right frame of mind at the moment to play the game because his head has been turned by the offer from Barcelona,” Hodgson said at the time. “It’s not the first time these things happen and there are a lot of clubs at the moment suffering from their players being courted by other clubs.” This might have left a grudge, but Hodgson overlooked it as he ticked boxes for Lahm, Neuer, the world’s best goalkeeper, and the tough Argentine .