Masch: Trip no problem for me

Javier Mascherano insists Liverpool will have no excuses if they don't return home from Madrid with a positive result despite their arduous journey.

The 25-year-old brushed off questions from journalists about how difficult the Europa League semi-final trip has been - claiming it is no worse than his regular jaunts back to Argentina.

Liverpool arrived in the Spanish capital early this afternoon before heading to Atletico's Vicente Calderon stadium for training.

And Mascherano reckons he now knows his teammates better than before after spending 24 hours with them on trains, coaches and aeroplanes.

"When I go to Argentina I always have a long journey. For me it's more or less the same. I always have 17 or 18 hours," the midfielder told Liverpool's pre-match press conference.

"It was a good trip. We talked a lot together. You have to get some positive things and maybe now I know my teammates a little bit better.

"After a long trip we're together, we're thinking about the game and we know if we do things right we can get a good result.

"It's a semi-final and we can't have any excuses about tiredness. It's 90 minutes and we've got to play our best if we want to be in the final - tiredness can't be an issue.

"Everyone knows it's been a long trip but the main thing is we're here and we're ready to play and hopefully take a good result back to Liverpool."

Mascherano was asked about his desire to win trophies at Anfield - something he has yet to do since arriving in January 2007.

"Trophies are the main thing. I said this a few weeks ago. This is the biggest game of this season so far for us," he replied.

"As a player, always I want to win. At the end of my career I want to see how many trophies I've won.

"We have a chance, we're in a semi-final and it's one more step to the final. We need to give 100 per cent to make sure we're in the final in Hamburg on May 12 - that's all I can say.

"It's very important for me and my teammates - otherwise we wouldn't have done a 24-hour journey!"

The tigerish midfielder was also quizzed on how often he thinks about the painful Champions League final defeat in Athens three years ago.

He said: "I don't think about the past. For me, the present is what matters. I try to think in the present. We have two finals now (against Atletico) to make sure we're playing on May 12 and giving the fans a good day.

"When you lose, you obviously always feel it. It's not a good experience but I try to take the positive things when we lose.

"We got to the final in 2007 - we couldn't win but we were there, that's important. It's important to have been in the final. But we can't think about three years ago because this team is totally different."

One man not on the trek across Europe is top scorer Fernando Torres, who misses out on facing his boyhood club following an operation on torn cartilage in his right knee.

Mascherano accepts his absence is a blow but believes there is enough quality within Rafa Benitez's squad to cope.

"Of course Fernando is very important for us," he said. "He wanted to be here to play. He is in very good form at the moment but unfortunately he's not here. We're going to have to try and replace him and some of our players have already done that in the league.

"He was disappointed because he cannot help us to get to the final - that's the main thing. Obviously for him it would have been a special game, but we know he is supporting us and hopefully if we get to the final we'll have a hope that he can be there."