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Liverpool's star midfielder Alexis Mac Allister has named Lionel Messi as his footballing idol and Trent Alexander-Arnold as the best passer of the ball he has ever witnessed.
Mac Allister Liverpool from Brighton & Hove Albion in 2023, has made a name for himself as one of the best midfielders in the Premier League in recent seasons. He played a pivotal role in Liverpool's Premier League triumph last season.
The 2025 PFA awards took place on Tuesday, August 19, and the 26-year-old bagged important nominations at the event. He was featured in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year for 2024-25 and was on the final sic-man shortlist for the 2024/25 Men's PFA Players' Player of the Year award. However, he was beaten to the individual accolade by teammate Mohamed Salah.
During a Q&A session with GOAL at the PFA Awards, Mac Allister revealed that Lionel Messi was his favorite player while growing up and named Trent Alexander-Arnold as the best passer of the ball he has ever witnessed. Notably, Mac Allister has shared the pitch with both individuals. He shares the same nationality as Messi, while he shared the dressing room with Arnold at Liverpool for two seasons.
When Lionel Messi said Barcelona failed to ‘compete’ after defeat to Liverpool
In 2019, Lionel Messi criticised Barcelona's performance after Liverpool kicked them out from the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League semi-finals. Barcelona had won the first leg 3-0 at Camp Nou, but Liverpool made an incredible comeback, winning 4-0 at Anfield to seal a 4-3 aggregate victory.
After the defeat, while speaking in a press conference Messi claimed Barcelona allowed Liverpool to make a strong comeback. He told reporters:
"I had a great first season as captain, apart from the Liverpool game. Regrettably, that game has tainted the season. I haven't watched the game again, it was very similar to Roma where we went into the game and suddenly they scored. We reacted well, then they [Liverpool] scored the second goal and we didn't compete, the worst thing is that we didn't compete. We let them walk all over us.
"We were all thinking about being champions and we were all very disappointed, first for the elimination, second for the manner, third for the fact it happened again. It was a very tough blow to take and it was tough to lift ourselves up, you could see that in the next few games. Now we have a final, a chance for a trophy, we have the chance to do a double and finish the year well, we have to win it like every final we play in."
So far, Lionel Messi has faced Liverpool four times, with results evenly shared - two wins and two defeats.
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