Lionel Messi is edging towards the final curtain of his Argentina career, and everyone inside that dressing room knows it. No one more than Alexis Mac Allister.
The 39-year-old will walk away as the country’s undisputed standard-bearer: record caps, record goals, 125 strikes in 207 appearances, and the captain who finally lifted the World Cup in 2022. You don’t replace that. You learn to live without it.
Mac Allister, speaking to ESPN, didn’t bother pretending the gap can be filled.
“The words for Messi are always the same: gratitude, and the realisation that there will never be another like him,” he said. Simple, honest, and tinged with the resignation of a player who understands he has shared a once-in-a-lifetime era. “We’ve enjoyed our time with him immensely. We’re also grateful to him for everything he’s helped us win. It’s sure to be a very emotional occasion.”
Argentina are already bracing for that emotion. This is not just a farewell to a captain. It is the end of a blueprint.
Life after Leo
Mac Allister knows the tactical reality as well as the emotional one. Argentina have built a decade of plans around Messi’s genius, his gravity, his ability to decide games with a single touch. When that disappears, the system has to change.
“It will be a different process with new players coming in,” the midfielder explained. The message was clear: there is no like-for-like solution. “We need to start realising that the best player in the world, the one who made all the difference, won’t be there anymore, and that we’ll have to grow stronger as a team.”
No nostalgia there, just a hard look at what comes next. Without Messi, Argentina lose their cheat code. The responsibility spreads. Mac Allister and his generation will have to carry the weight that one man shouldered for almost two decades.
Even as the end approaches, the Messi debate still circles back to individual honours. Asked about his captain’s chances of winning another Ballon d’Or, Mac Allister didn’t hesitate.
“As Argentines we’d love for Messi to win it. He had an incredible World Cup and I don’t see why he shouldn’t be awarded it,” he said. Then came the reminder of why Messi commands such loyalty in the first place. “We all know that Leo has always prioritised the team over individual achievements, so it wouldn’t be a big deal for him.”
A Ballon d’Or would be another line on an already overflowing CV. The real legacy, at least in the eyes of his team-mates, is what he changed for them.
Uncertainty at Anfield
While Messi’s international timeline narrows, Mac Allister’s club future feels far more open.
The Liverpool midfielder has already admitted frustration that the club have not yet moved to extend his deal, especially after Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai secured new contracts. For a player who has become central to Liverpool’s midfield structure, the delay has raised eyebrows.
Mac Allister chose to stay put in the summer, turning down chances to leave Anfield. That decision has not yet been rewarded with clarity.
“There’s no firm decision yet. I still have two years left on my contract,” he said. No drama, but no certainty either. “As I said, I’m going to give it my all. A lot can happen in that time; there are plenty of options.”
The tone, though, remained positive. He knows what he has.
“Hopefully it’ll be for more years, but if it’s just two, I’ll have to enjoy them with my family, because I have no doubt that I’m at one of the best clubs in the world.”
For now, Mac Allister stands at the crossroads of two stories: one closing around the greatest player Argentina has ever produced, the other still unfolding under the lights at Anfield. How he navigates both will say plenty about the next era for club and country—an era where, for the first time, there is no Messi to lean on.
