Javier Mascherano dedicates Champions League victory to Liverpool supporters after triumphing with Barcelona over Manchester United

Barcelona players celebrate after victory in the UEFA Champions League final

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Barcelona midfielder Javier Mascherano has dedicated his victory in the Champions League final to Liverpool‘s supporters.

The Argentinian left Anfield at the start of this season after a public battle to leave the club, but after playing at centre-back in place of injured captain Carles Puyol, he helped to defeat his former club’s greatest rivals, Manchester United.

Speaking after the match, he said he hoped the 3-1 victory would go some way towards making up for his accrimonius exit.

“I know Liverpool supporters after my exit were maybe a little bit sad with me, but I’d like to say this victory is for them as well,” Mascherano told Sky Sports.

“To win the Champions League for any footballer is the top title.

“Playing at centre-back has been a little bit of a strange situation for me because the last two-and-a-half months I have found myself playing there.

“It’s a position that is not my natural position but I try to do my best and give my best to the team and I’m happy because we reached our target.”

Mascherano had little doubt that the Catalans deserved the victory and says he is hopeful that the club can dominate the Champions League for years to come.

He added: “We are really happy because we have beaten a fantastic team in Manchester United.

“We are delighted to have played the way we like to play so it’s really good for us. We try to play with having possession all the time and trying to play most of the game in the opposite half, playing well and we did that.

“We had a lot of chances to score. We couldn’t quite score all of the opportunities we created in the first half, but in the second half when we had the chances we took them.

“Hopefully we can dominate in Europe, we know it is difficult to win every year, but we’ll see.

“We are really happy because we win the league, we win the Champions League, now we have more targets in the future so we will try and get those targets.”