In footballing circles, the Argentinian city of Santa Rosa is best known for three notable clubs: Belgrano, Club Atletico Santa Rosa, and Club Atletico All Boys.
The name of a fourth side, established in La Stampa province in 1998, might jar if it did not bear a moniker that carries special meaning throughout the country: Deportivo Mac Allister.
Its founder, the former Argentina international Carlos Mac Allister, is preparing to swap the four hectares of land he has turned into football pitches for the stands of Anfield on Thursday night. Two of his sons, Alexis and Kevin, will face one another as Liverpool play Union Saint-Gilloise in the Reds’ first home Europa League match for six years.
A strange coincidence, or an inevitability for a family which has produced six professional footballers?
“We had football in our blood,” says Kevin. The defender is sitting down for his only interview before taking on his brother tomorrow in a historic occasion for the whole family. Yet sharing a pitch with Alexis is a feeling he knows well from childhood.
“The matches between us were a big battle,” he recalls. Another brother, Francis, now 27, plays for Rosario Central, and as the oldest, he was initially the best of the three.
“After that, Alexis is now the best – I think that. But of course a lot of times after the matches we had blood on us, or maybe a head injury because we played always aggressively like Argentinian players.”
For those who have not watched the Liverpool midfielder grow from a young prospect at Argentinos Juniors (the club which also produced Diego Maradona and Sergio Batista), his sudden ascent has been remarkable.
Back home, Kevin says Juniors is widely known as “a little factory of talent”, but Alexis was almost unheard of in England when he signed for Brighton. By the time he left the Amex, he was a World Cup winner.
Kevin was reduced to tears in the crowd at that final in Qatar and soon paid for a tattoo of Alexis with the World Cup trophy.
“I saw my brother as a world champion and that is the best gift to a family that loves football,” he says. Theirs is indeed “a family of football”, his father a teammate and personal friend of Maradona, and his brother playing alongside Lionel Messi.
“These moments are crazy and we try to enjoy all these moments,” Kevin adds. “It is difficult because in football you always want more.”
He wanted more for himself, too – he had been dreaming of a move to Europe for two years before he finally earned his shot in Belgium, where Union are currently top of the league.
So there is no sense that this particular Mac Allister has been left behind. Does the name sound familiar yet?
“I can’t understand why my name is the same as a character in Home Alone,” he laughs – before confirming the rumours are true. He was 18 when he found out his mother had really named him after the Macaulay Culkin character in the 1990 Christmas film.
These siblings are a little closer and it is hard to envisage any of them getting on a plane and accidentally forgetting one of the others. Alexis, Kevin remembers as “a special player”, who “improved a lot” during his Juniors days, making the Maradona role his own.
“The first step in the first team was difficult, because in Argentina it is really aggressive football and all the matches are a battle. But he improved and showed in Argentinos himself to be one of the best.
“At the beginning of his career in Argentinos, he played as No 10 who would move forward, pass forward, assist and score and now, of course, he plays with the number 10 on his back. But he plays like a No 5, more defensive and that is really special. But in the past Alexis played as a little No 10 and in Argentina this is a really special number.”
While they are all fiercely competitive on the field, the Mac Allisters seem devoid of rivalry off it, wholeheartedly supportive of each other’s achievements. Their father, Carlos, might be praying for a draw on Thursday night.
Mac Allister Senior watched the last round of the Europa League on two computer screens – one for each son. “It will be difficult because maybe one of his two sons will lose,” Kevin admits.
“But he is trying to enjoy this part of our life in football and all the family as well. My older brother Francis will be in front of the TV and will watch the match.”
A family reunion was always a possibility, but it only became real during a Union team flight when the pilot announced: “It’s Liverpool in the group stage.” Alexis was on the phone as soon as they landed. “He couldn’t believe it either”.
“I feel really emotional,” says Kevin.
“It is really special, not only for playing against my brother, but I play against my brother in Anfield against big players and a big team and that is really special for me and my family.”
It will only be the second time he has seen his brother play for his new club. For the first, in August, he took the Eurostar to England and stood unnoticed in the stands of Stamford Bridge as Liverpool drew 1-1 with Chelsea on Mac Allister’s debut. His brother has watched him play everywhere from street corners to World Cup finals, but he is surprisingly serene about seeing his sibling on the biggest stages of all. “When I watch Alexis on the pitch, I stay calm, because he always stays calm.”
They are able to enjoy their football so much, at least in part, because they did not have the pushy parenting that might be expected from such a successful sporting family. “We never felt pressure from our dad or my mum or my family to play football,” Mac Allister stresses.
“They only wanted us to enjoy football, enjoy the games and of course we improved at sport.”
Today, Carlos remains “crazy about football”. When Kevin last saw his father, he was preoccupied watching back clips of Liverpool’s match against Tottenham, focusing on Alexis’ positioning. “Sometimes we are at the dinner table and try and speak about other things,” he jokes. “And he says: ‘Well maybe, if Luis Diaz played to the left, it’s better if you stand up like this…’”
Even coming from such a family, the likelihood of the pair sharing the pitch at Anfield seemed remote. To Kevin, it is totally “crazy”.
“It is not normal that this can happen on a big stage in Europe.”
It is not totally unheard of. Phil and Gary Neville played against one another several times, and Ghana’s Kevin-Prince Boateng and Germany’s Jerome Boateng (half-brothers) were even opponents representing different countries.
Were Union to beat Liverpool, might a second Mac Allister get a taste for playing in England? He already speaks the language, though he says he stopped taking lessons in 2019: “I think it [my English] is not bad?”
Beating Liverpool will of course be a tall order, but if the Mac Allister’s reunion proves anything, it’s that dreams can come true. “It’s football,” says Kevin, with the family’s trademark self-belief. “Anything can happen.”
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