the quarter-final first leg away to PSV Eindhoven on 3 April. Hastily establishing himself as a starter at the club, Mascherano played in the Champions League Final that year against Milan. He and teammate Alonso were successful in stifling the creative play of both Kaká and Clarence Seedorf for much of the match but Liverpool eventually succumbed to Milan, losing 2–1 at the Olympic Stadium in Athens. He was voted Liverpool's man of the match by the fans on the official Liverpool website. Following months of speculation, Mascherano signed a four-year permanent contract with Liverpool on 29 February 2008, ending his association with Media Sports Investments. The transfer reportedly cost Liverpool £18.6 million, and covered not only the transfer fee, but also the player's wages for the four-year deal. It was allowed to go through immediately as Mascherano was not contracted to another club, making him exempt from the rules of the transfer window. He scored his first Premier League and Liverpool goal on 15 March 2008, with a 20-yard strike against Reading. On 29 November 2009, Mascherano claimed the first goal in the 2–0 win against Everton at Goodison Park when his 30-yard shot appeared to be heading just off target before it took a wicked deflection off Joseph Yobo before finding the net. The goal officially went down as an own goal. In a match against Portsmouth on 19 December 2009, Mascherano was sent off for committing a bad foul on Tal Ben Haim. It was later confirmed that the sending off meant a four-match suspension for Mascherano. This was due to this being his second red card of the season, Liverpool went on to lose the match 2–0. Mascherano had the worst disciplinary record of the 2009–10 Premier League season with seven yellow cards and two red. He scored his first goal of the season with a bullet of a shot from outside the area in the UEFA Europa League against Unirea Urziceni away from home in a match Liverpool won 3–1 to secure their place in the round of 16 of the competition with an aggregate win of 4–1. On 27 July 2010, after returning from a break after the 2010 World Cup, Mascherano informed new Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson that he wanted to leave the club. During that break, Hodgson had failed with several attempts to contact Mascherano, able only to leave messages for him