Alexis Mac Allister says he’s hoping to replicate countrymen Javier Mascherano and Maxi Rodriguez at Liverpool.
Mac Allister followed in the footsteps of the pair this summer, becoming the eighth Argentinian to play for the Reds. Mascherano and Rodriguez made a combined 212 appearances for Liverpool, spending six months together at Anfield in 2010.
Speaking to liverpoolfc.com about the two former players, Mac Allister suggested that Mascherano in particular was a real inspiration.
“Mascherano for us [Argentina] is a big player,” says the World Cup winner. “He was very important to the national team, big character, so of course I watched him.
“We are not similar players, to be fair, but I know how Liverpool fans like that kind of game. It’s about a mix of everything. I try to be good on the ball but once we don’t have the ball I try to do my best to recover it.
MORE LIVERPOOL STORIES
“Hopefully, defensively, I can do a little bit like Mascherano.
“Maxi Rodriguez is another player that is Argentinian and was important for Liverpool.”
Argentine inspiration for Alexis
Ah, Javier Mascherano. What a little terrier. In the conversations about great Liverpool midfielders, El Jefe’s name doesn’t come up nearly as much as it should do.
Perhaps that’s partly because he didn’t win anything during his three-and-a-half years at the club, although he was a Champions League runner-up.
Maybe it’s because of the way he left – under a cloud amid interest from Barcelona.
But in terms of on-pitch talent, he’s got to be right up there. This is a guy who, despite being just 5ft 9in, transformed from a ball-winning midfielder to a ball-playing centre-back for Pep Guardiola’s fabled Barca side.
As tenacious as they come, Mascherano was a fierce competitor and a perfect ballast for Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso. It truly is a shame that Liverpool couldn’t get a league title over the line in 2008/09 with those three pulling the strings.
And then there was Maxi. Although he only spent two-and-a-half years with the club he left with a number of brilliant memories. He scored two Premier League hat-tricks during the 2010/11 season and also won the Carabao Cup with the Reds.
Hopefully Mac Allister’s time with Liverpool is a little more trophy-laden. But if he ends up matching these two’s personal legacy’s, he’ll have done well.