Artistry in the air

Alexis Mac Allister tends to score aesthetically pleasing headers.

On the final day of the 2023/24 Premier League season, Liverpool needed to beat Wolves to secure a Champions League spot.

Midway through the first-half, the Argentine met an inviting cross sideways-on, twisting his head to plant an unstoppable effort into the corner of the net.

Seven months later, his team were in trouble, one down to Everton at Goodison Park in a ferociously competed Merseyside derby.

A whipped delivery by Mo Salah was slightly too high for the former Brighton star who adjusted in-flight to meet it. Despite unnaturally leaning backwards mid-air, Mac Allister directed the ball over his shoulder and into the goal.

It was two Ballon d’Or nominated players working in tandem to produce a moment of excellence.

This Sunday, the 27-year-old was at it again, this time for his country, and on the biggest footballing stage of them all.

With Argentina’s World Cup quarter-final clash with Switzerland just ten minutes old, he rose at a corner to deftly flick home a precious advantage for La Selección.

A second viewing highlights the clever movement that preceded the midfielder converting his seventh, and most important, international goal.

A suggestion of a dummy-run. A dart into space. It was the actions of a seasoned centre-forward from someone who has played in the middle of the park his whole career.

From the wilderness to a world champion

Mac Allister’s introduction to international football proved to be a false dawn, two outings in 2019 leading to a surprising spell in the wilderness.

It was an absence from the Argentina set-up made all-the-more surprising by what was transpiring in his club pursuits around this period.

That summer the Santa Rose-born schemer flew 7000 miles from Buenos Aires to the south coast of England and wasted little time in establishing himself as a significant talent in the Premier League with Brighton.

In due course, his impressive displays led to a big-money move to Liverpool, where he won a league title as well as being included in the PFA Team of the Year. 

Despite these high achievements, it took the midfielder two-and-a-half years to force his way back into Lionel Scaloni’s plans but at least from that point on Mac Allister has been a regular, integral to Argentina’s adventures.

In 2022, he was a near ever-present as the South American giant won a third World Cup edition in a thrilling final against France.

An assist for Angel Di Maria – that resulted from a lung-busting run as Argentina broke on Les Bleus – put his team two goals up before the game dissolved into captivating late chaos.

Two years later, he was pivotal again to a seismic triumph for his country, helping La Selección attain a record 16th Copa America title.

Fast forward to the present and Mac Allister is once more prominent, orchestrating his nation to a consecutive World Cup semi-final.

Alexis Mac Allister’s World Cup 2026 in numbers   

Goal involvements: 2

Passes per 90: 59.9

Key passes: 5

Tackles: 18

Duels won per 90: 10.7

Sprints: 176

A scholarly quarterback

It is entirely apt that Mac Allister’s individual zenith in the famous blue and white involved his head, because he’s been using it to good effect now for a decade and more.

An erudite footballer, blessed with an innate understanding of space and opportunity, his reading of the game is one of his biggest strengths. It affords him an extra second in possession while, out of it, few surpass him for anticipating plays and executing vital defensive regains.

This latter aptitude makes him a valuable resource stationed just ahead of his team’s defence, a scholarly ‘quarterback’ able – with a lot of real estate in front of him - to control the tempo, and alternate short passes with penetrative vertical balls.

Mac Allister was first reverted to a number six by Brighton, in his third season there, with Jurgen Klopp deploying him as a holder at Anfield on many subsequent occasions.

In early 2024, following a Reds league victory, Klopp explained why a player principally known to be an attacking midfielder was so effective in a deeper role.

“He has the tactical brain to do that job. He's a top-class player, on the ball and without the ball. He understands the game.”

His international boss, Scaloni, meanwhile was even more effusive this week, praising a talent that was recognised by Ballon d’Or in 2025 with a nomination.

He is ‘one of the greatest’, he said succinctly.

What these elite coaches love about Mac Allister is not just his output and influence, but his reliability to make the right decision. When to press. When to hold. When to break the lines and when to slow down play.

All of these in-game calls are analysed and risk-assessed in a micro-second by one of the most astute tactical brains in top-level football.

It is Argentina who are reaping the rewards this summer.