"When we signed Mascherano, I said he was a winner, a player with a good mentality," said an impressed Rafael Benitez.
"He has 20 caps with Argentina and is only 22-years-old, and that means a lot. When you think about the same figures in England, not a lot of players have 20 caps at his age, and Argentina is a fantastic national team.
"He has experience and character, he wanted to play and wanted to show people he was good enough to play in England, and that was a key to us.
"I think on Saturday people could see that he is a very good player. He was training really well during the week and I was sure he would play well.
"He can settle things down and he can keep the possession, is always in a good position, and when the team play well with the wingers and the holding midfielders play well, then the strikers can score goals.
"We knew when we were trying to bring Mascherano here that we needed another holding midfielder just in case Xabi couldn't play. Against Arsenal, we could play with both and we gave freedom to the wingers and to Gerrard in front of the two midfielders, and it was a solution.
"Against Arsenal he had some problems near the end, and it's not easy if you haven't played a lot of games. He will be okay for the rest of the season.
"Maybe not 100% fit, but he might be if we play at the end in the Champions League final!"