The Mac Allister dynasty: From Diego Maradona to Lionel Messi, an exclusive chat with Argentina’s World Cup star Alexis

Alexis Mac Allister is part of an Argentinian football dynasty, and on Sunday the 23-year-old will try to match the Mac Allister legend with a win in the World Cup final.

The 23-year-old looks set to start in Sunday’s World Cup final against France as Argentina seek their third World Cup win and first since 1986.

It’s been quite a journey for the player who started his career with Argentinos Juniors before a surprise move to Brighton and Hove Albion in 2019.

Mac Allisters may not have been a household name when he arrived in the Premier League, but he belongs to a footballing dynasty.

Both of his brothers are soccer players. Francis plays for Rosario Central and Kevin for Argentinos Juniors. They are sons of Carlos Mac Allister and nephews of Patricio Mac Allister.

Carlos played with distinction for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Racing Club and Ferro Carril Oeste and also represented Argentina. He has played with some of the greats of the Argentinian game.

I played with great players, Carlos said as he spoke The world at their feet.

Like [Diego] maradona, [Claudio] Caniggia, [Fernando] Redondo, [Gabriel] Batistuta and [Oscar] Ruggeri – important players in the history of Argentine football.

His son Alexis Mac Allister was born in Santa Rosa, La Pampa, but grew up in Buenos Aires. And he and his three brothers followed in the footsteps of both their father Carlos and Maradona by turning up for Argentinos Juniors.

Argentinos Juniors is like “Argentina’s club of possibilities,” added Carlos.

It is a club where if a boy plays well, he is always given the opportunity to play in the first division.

In addition to Maradona, the club also brought in Juan Roman Riquelme and Esteban Cambiaso, and on 25 November 2017, in a match against San Lorenzo, the brothers appeared together with their boyhood club Kevin and Alexis starting when Francis came on as a substitute. . It was a beautiful moment that “the whole family enjoyed immensely,” Alexis said.

A little over a year later, Alexis moved to Brighton in the Premier League. He signed a four-and-a-half-year contract and was then loaned back to Argentina’s Primera Division, first to the former Argentinos Juniors and then to Boca Juniors.

The first year was very difficult for me, said Mac Allister.

I think it was a year of many changes to be able to realize the dream and move to a Premier League team [but] it wasn’t as easy as I had imagined. When I came here, I realized, maybe physically, that I wasn’t at the level that the league needed and that the team needed me.

Sometimes I also suffered and cried and missed my family and friends, but I never gave up and knew that I had the ability to play here.

After those early struggles, Mac Allister established himself in Brighton’s first team, playing 21 times in the Premier League in the 2020-21 season and earning himself a place in Argentina’s Olympic squad.

Being in the Argentina national team was always my dream, added Mac Allister. When I got the opportunity to participate in the Olympics, I first talked to the club. At first they had no plans to let me into the Olympics, but I pressed.

I pushed because I felt it was very important for me to represent Argentina at the Olympics. That opportunity doesn’t come along every day.

Argentina finished third in a group that included Spain and Egypt. However, it set in motion the process of Mac Allister being reinstated to Argentina’s seniors. He returned to the team in January 2022, two and a half years after collecting his first two caps. He has added 11 matches.

Cap No. 14 could see him win his first honor as a professional footballer: the World Cup.

In doing so, Mac Allister would help Messi follow in Maradona’s footsteps and further the legend of the Mac Allister football dynasty.