Due to the volcanic ash cloud that has brought air travel to a virtual standstill over Europe in recent days, Liverpool were forced to make the trip for their Europa League semi-final first leg in a series of phases. The 1,300-mile journey began yesterday - the day after facing West Ham in the Premier League at Anfield - with a train to London, followed by the Eurostar to Paris, where they spent the night. Today Liverpool took another train to Bordeaux before making a short flight to the Spanish capital to arrive this afternoon. It was an odyssey Liverpool would have preferred to have avoided, especially ahead of such an important game, but Mascherano is optimistic tiredness will not be a problem for the players tomorrow night. "Hopefully not, it's a semi-final and we cannot have an excuse such as tiredness," he said. "It's 90 minutes and we have to play at our best to get to the final so tiredness can't be an issue. "Everyone knows it's a long trip but the main thing is that we are here so we are ready to play tomorrow and hopefully we can get a good result to take back to Liverpool." The Argentina international is no stranger to long-distance trips, and told journalists: "When I go back to Argentina I have a long journey, so for me it's more or less the same. "Every time I go back to Argentina I have a trip of 17 or 18 hours. The important thing is to rest well. Now we are going to train, then we will rest and be ready for the game tomorrow." When asked what the players did to pass the time during the journey, the 25-year-old Mascherano said: "It was a good trip, we were talking together a lot. You have to take the positives out of it, and maybe now I know my team-mates a little bit better." Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez also gave a more revealing insight as to what the players got up to during the trip, joking: "A lot of them were thinking with their eyes closed." He added: "I think definitely we will be ok (tomorrow), we'll see today in the training session but I definitely think we'll be fine." Liverpool go into tomorrow's encounter on the back of a 3-0 win over West Ham on Monday night, but despite that result they are still five points behind fourth-placed Tottenham in the race for the Champions League places. It has been a largely disappointing season for the Reds, who have also played a game more than Spurs, and Benitez's men are determined to try and end it on a high note with victory in the Europa League. When asked about the importance of tomorrow's game, Mascherano added: "Trophies are the main thing. I said this a few weeks ago. This is the biggest game of this season for us. "We will come to the stadium and we will try to do our best. After a long trip we are together, we are thinking of the game and we know if our mindset is right we can get a good result." Liverpool are without star striker Fernando Torres, the former Atletico striker, as he underwent a knee operation at the weekend that will keep him sidelined for the rest of the season. Defenders Fabio Aurelio, Emiliano Insua (both thigh), Martin Skrtel (foot) and Martin Kelly (knee) were all also left behind on Merseyside to continue their rehabilitation. However, forward Ryan Babel returns to the squad having served a one-match suspension for his sending-off in the last-eight first leg against Benfica.
