Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister has received widespread praise for his performance in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Austria at the World Cup.
The match in Dallas will be remembered for Lionel Messi’s brace which made him the all-time leading goalscorer in the tournament’s 96-year history, and he would’ve had a second consecutive hat-trick were it not for a missed penalty in the opening few minutes.
The Reds’ number 10 also played his part as the reigning champions made it two wins out of two in Group J, serenly booking their place in the knockout rounds with a match to spare against already-eliminated Jordan.
Mac Allister’s performance was praised by Ernesto Provitilo for TyC Sports, who rated him at 7/10 and wrote: ‘Argentina needed him there today, and he responded very well, especially in his understanding with Enzo [Fernandez].
‘It’s also important to understand that some flashes of brilliance can go unnoticed when the required roles aren’t those that offer the most dazzling performances.’
Elsewhere, Andrew Headspeath of Sports Illustrated claimed that the midfielder ‘seems reinvigorated after a tough season at Liverpool’, while GOAL‘s Mark Doyle observed that the 27-year-old ‘did a good job protecting his back four and moving the ball forward’, albeit with culpability for ‘a couple of rash challenges’.
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Like many of his teammates at Anfield, Mac Allister’s on-field performances declined sharply in the 2025/26 season, with Micah Richards among those who felt that the former Brighton man was ‘struggling‘.
However, the Liverpool midfielder had a quietly effective outing for Argentina as they overcame Austria on Monday, as reflected by the statistics below from Sofascore.
The 27-year-old isn’t the only Reds player for whom the World Cup is offering a form of catharsis – Cody Gakpo was pilloried by many pundits during the club campaign, but he looks much closer to his best at the tournament as he put Sweden to the sword with two goals over the weekend.
The world champions will have tougher tests as the competition progresses, and there’ll be an expectation on Mac Allister to maintain high standards when his side come up against fellow elite opposition in the knockout rounds.
For now, though, it’s good to see him making a telling contribution for Argentina, and that his displays haven’t gone unnoticed amid the understandable garlands being heaped on the history-making Messi.
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So he played at Liverpool with less energy to save himself for the WC
So he was just saving himself for the world cup all along
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