:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/Q5R7RPEKQBBNNELPSILIALD7HA.jpg "Alexis Mac Allister, Messi’s ‘protégé’, the best in Argentina against Mexico")
A Argentina forced and lionel scaloni move the bench to face Mexico. The albiceleste coach makes five changes for the decisive match in Group C of Qatar 2022 and Alexis Mac Allister will take the place of Papu Gómez. It will be the World Cup debut for the 23-year-old attacker.
Alexis Mac Allister currently plays for Brighton in the Premier League. It is made of the remembered Carlos Mac Allister, a player of whom the fans of Sporting Cristal keep good memories, since he was the defender of Racing who could not stop Julinho in the 1997 Copa Libertadores.
But this is another story, and Alexis Mac Allister will have his chance in Argentina vs. Mexico, where the albiceleste must win to have a chance of qualifying. If she loses, she will be eliminated.
Mac Allister has a peculiar story within the team that speaks of the leadership that Lionel Messi has in the squad. The captain asked the entire group to stop nickname Alexis and the group responded.
“I remember that everyone called me ‘Colo’, but I don’t like him very much, so Messi told all his teammates. He said: ‘He doesn’t like to be called Colo, so don’t call him that!’”, he recounted in an interview with The Athletic.
This happened just last year. Mac Allister was part of the team that was preparing for Tokyo 2020 and Messi with whom he was going to the Copa América, which they ended up winning. Both teams trained together and Messi knew everyone.
Thus, for Alexis Mac Allister, the figure of Lionel grew, whom he admires. She thus remembered the first time she saw him. “I was red, completely red. She didn’t even want to say hello. He was really nervous to even meet one of the best players in the world, but it was fantastic, of course,” he told TyC Sports.
They shared the field at the end of the Qualifiers, against Venezuela and Ecuador and this is how Alexis remembers it. “I even think, especially in the first game, Leo was one of those who gave me the ball the most. My legs trembled, if I gave it to the left, to the right, slowly, hard”.
Today Mac Allister is one of Argentina’s hopes to be able to face Mexico and add the points that will keep them in Qatar 2022.
Source: Elcomercio
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