Touch-tastic! Ex Liverpool favourite has more WC touches than Pirlo

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Two Italians and two Germans help make up a list of those with the most ball touches in Brazil thus far.

With the second round of World Cup fixtures complete, it is possible to look back on the 32 games played and see which of the players have shown themselves to be at the very top of the tree in a variety of disciplines.

Below we look at which players have made themselves the funnel through which their country plays, by compiling the top five players with the most touches in the tournament so far.

Italian duo Daniele De Rossi and Andrea Pirlo feature in the gold and bronze position, with both players excellent in the win over England and seeing plenty of the ball in the shock defeat to Costa Rica.

But it is Argentina’s former Liverpool star Javier Mascherano that not only has second spot with 223 touches in his two games, but also possesses a quite outstanding passing accuracy.

And all while making his 100th game for his country in the win over Iran.

Mascherano accurately completed an outstanding 94.55% of all passing attempts, which is as you can see above, the highest percentage of those with the most amount of touches. That he has been able to take so many touches before handing possession to a teammate with limited errors is truly impressive, especially considering that he has been playing centre back at Barcelona for the last couple of seasons.

The Argentine spent three and a half years at Anfield, ending in 2010 with his €24 million move to the Nou Camp. With 139 appearances for the Reds, a return switch was mooted earlier this summer before he signed an extended contract with the La Liga giants that will run until 2018.

The final two spots in the top five list are taken by two German players, both at Bayern Munich: Manchester United linked Toni Kroos and fullback turned midfield lynchpin Philipp Lahm.