- Interaction happened before friendly
- Messi was eating dinner
- Shy Mac Allister approached him
WHAT HAPPENED? Long before Mac Allister registered two goal involvements in four appearances at the 2022 World Cup, he was a Boca Juniors youngster nervously approaching his Argentina idol. The current Brighton man looks back fondly on his first interaction with Messi.
WHAT THEY SAID: "I was so nervous, my hands were shaking" Mac Allister told B/R Football. "I'm a really shy guy, so yeah, I was really nervous. But then you realise how humble he is. In that moment, I was playing at Boca Juniors, so we had arrived from Argentina to [play] I think it was Spain for a friendly. And we arrived, and he was having dinner.
"I went to the table and said hello with my hands shaking. I was sweating. But it was an amazing moment. He's my idol. He's the best football player in the world."
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Mac Allister has previously revealed that Messi defended him against a nickname he didn't like, saying of an early training session together: “I remember everyone called me ‘Colo’, which is ginger in Argentina. I don’t like it much and he told the team-mates that. He said, ‘He doesn’t like to be called Colo, so don’t call him that!’.”
IN TWO PHOTOS:
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GettyWHAT NEXT FOR MAC ALLISTER? The midfielder is back with Brighton for the second half of the Premier League season, though he could draw transfer interest in the near future.