Alexis Mac Allister says he will tap into his experience of the World Cup final when Liverpool meet Chelsea in the Carabao Cup showpiece on Sunday.
And the Reds midfielder says he never attempted to convince Brighton team-mate Moises Caicedo to move to Anfield with him when the midfielder was surveying two offers from Chelsea and Liverpool in August.
Mac Allister has enjoyed a fine debut season since moving from the south coast in early June for £35m and has excelled in a deeper midfield role than he had previously been used to both at the Amex Stadium and for the Argentina national side.
The 25-year-old was already on the Reds’ radar when he was part of the Argentina team that won the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and he believes he can use his handling of the biggest game in football when he takes part in his first final for the Reds this weekend.
“Of course it will be my first final with Liverpool and first opportunity to win something so it is going to be something very special for me and the team,” Mac Allister said. “We haven’t been thinking a lot about the final because we had a lot of games and this one (against Luton) was a big one as well but now we have time to think about it, to prepare for it well because we are going to play against a very good team and we will try to win it.
“As you say, maybe it is the biggest game in the world, the World Cup final, but I am still young as well, I am 25 and I think every player and every person is different so I wouldn’t say much to them, they just need to enjoy their football and do the same they do every day, we have a lot of good players, young players as well, so we will prepare it and go for it.
“It gives you of course a lot of confidence and it definitely helps when you have experience but it is not the most important thing. You can see players who played a final for the first time and they do very well, like it was for me in the World Cup so we have to enjoy it, of course it is the opportunity to win a trophy for this club and it will be special for everyone but we need to go out there, do our best, play the game we want to play and try to win.
“I look at [my World Cup winner’s medal] every single day. That is what it means to me and to the country as well. We spoke before, it is the biggest game ever for a football player so it is something that I am really proud of and hopefully next week the Carabao Cup medal can be something I will look at as well.
“My plan is to one day create a little museum at home – a room where everything is there. I have a replica of the World Cup, the medal and some more trophies – they are all in a safe place for now – and my plan is to be able to have a place for them where I can always see them.”
Having snapped up Mac Allister at the beginning of last summer’s transfer window, the Reds were thwarted in what would have been a club and British-record £111m bid for Caicedo when Brighton accepted the offer before the Ecuador international chose to move to Chelsea instead in August.
Liverpool star Mac Allister said he didn’t try to intervene when his former colleague was mulling over the options and joked that he was “hurt” by his friend’s decision.
Mac Allister said: “It is a personal decision and I would never be in the middle, that is what he chose and that is completely fine. He is an amazing player, a really good guy so I wish him all the best every day of his life – but not on Sunday.
