Javier Mascherano Must Fill Void Left by Sergio Busquets Injury at Barcelona

There were two moments on Wednesday night which suggested that Javier Mascherano may be able to stand in for the injured Sergio Busquets. 

Of course, Barcelona fans will point to the entire World Cup as an example of Mascherano's capability of not only replacing the midfielder but also shining in defensive midfield, his natural position.

But the fact is that Busquets offers a lot more to Barcelona's team than a traditional bulldog-type player.

The Badia-born midfielder is not only the iceberg that opposition attacks break down upon, but beneath the surface possesses a number of skills that helps Barcelona create moves of their own.

His ball control is exceptional, his passing exquisite and he has no qualms about joining in with attacking moves when he gets the opportunity.

Lionel Messi's dazzling run against Athletic Club in Bilbao culminated in a through ball for none other than Busquets, who teed up Pedro to rattle home the fifth, against the club's prospective Copa del Rey final opponents.

Busquets is the boy who at 21 years old had ousted Yaya Toure from the Barcelona team, leading the Ivorian midfielder to move to Manchester City.

The Guardian's Sid Lowe interviewed the midfielder recently, and compiled various quotes about him from well-placed sources. A snippet of his piece read:

Johan Cruyff said he was “a gift for any manager” and his managers agree. Guardiola said he was “priceless”; Luis Enrique describes him as “almost perfect”; Vicente del Bosque claimed that if he could come back as any player it would be as Busquets. Xavi Hernández called him the “snowplough”, clearing all before him.

Since 2010, only Dani Alves has made more tackles at Barcelona, but he is not the stereotypical muscular figure flying into challenges that puts opponents on their backsides and fans on their feet. If the tackle count is high, and the nastiness matters, the pass count is higher, trailing only Toni Kroos in Spain. And he doesn’t run box to box. At times, he appears hardly to run at all, defined more by patience and pause.

Patience and pause are not the first attributes that come to mind when you consider what Mascherano is good at.

In fact, he's quite the opposite of the man he has to replace. All Mascherano knows is running. Hard work. Passion.

Mascherano is the man who tore his anus at the World Cup, making a flying tackle on Arjen Robben.

The Argentine is an excellent player, but one who is very different from Busquets.

There is a reason that he has been recycled as a centre-back while Busquets has been part of Barcelona's midfield for nearly six years; he doesn't fit Barcelona's style of play.

Or didn't use to. This season, the club have transitioned from a side that play through the midfield to one that wants to get the ball forward quickly.

That might work perfectly for Mascherano, who sees tackling the opposition and shuttling it on as his God-given duty.

So, back to those two moments during Barcelona's 3-1 over Villarreal at El Madrigal on Wednesday night.

The first came early in the game, when Mascherano, at centre-back, played an excellent pass into Luis Suarez, to start the attack which led to the opening goal.

Then, after Busquets had been taken off injured after a bad challenge by Tomas Pina, which could see him out for weeks, Mascherano moved into midfield.

From there, he played another spectacular pass to Suarez, who took advantage and netted Barcelona's second against the Yellow Submarine, the goal which effectively sealed the game and sent them into the Copa del Rey final.

Those two passes suggest that while he can not replace Busquets, he may at least be able to provide a decent imitation while still retaining his own fearsome game.

If Busquets' injury is serious, he may miss the games against Manchester City and Real Madrid. But Mascherano provides a pair of safe hands, so they will not be sounding the alarms in Catalonia just yet.