Lucas joins Mascherano in ‘club or country’ dilemma

May 6, 2008 · By fiz · Jump to comments

Lucas Leiva has joined Mascherano in a bid to represent their country at the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

Javier Mascherano has hinted at Rafael Benitez he wants to miss the start of next season to play at the Olympics.

Lucas told Liverpool Echo: “Hopefully I will be picked. That would mean I would start the pre-season here with Liverpool and then later on I would go to the Olympics.

“I need to wait for the squad to be picked but hopefully I will go.

“I know that would mean me missing some games for Liverpool and that is not good, but when you talk about your country you always want to play for them.

“And for Brazil the Olympics is like the World Cup because Brazil has never won the gold medal.

“It is also important for my future as an international player because the World Cup qualifiers are coming up and obviously I would like to be in the squad for those.

“So now I need to think about the Olympics and I will speak with Rafa about this.”