Mac Allister: I need another medal for my own museum!

ALEXIS MAC ALLISTER has ticked off the grandest prize in sport by playing a starring role in winning the World Cup with Argentina and has plenty more lofty ambitions with Liverpool. But he also has a little quest all of his own — to build a museum in his house. The midfielder, who looks a bargain of a signing at £35million from Brighton, never forgets his roots and those who aided him along the way. Just last month, it is believed he helped his former friends on the south coast by tempting compatriot Valentin Barco to join the Seagulls. And now he wants to create a little space in his home to visit on a daily basis, an area to reflect on his journey from Santa Rosa to the sporting elite.

‘I look at my World Cup medal every day,’ admitted the 25-year-old ahead of his first final since that humid night in Qatar. ‘That is what it means to me and to the country as well.

‘(The World Cup final) 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.’

The midfielder, who notched two assists on Wednesday night in a man-of-the-match display against Luton, added: ‘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.’ Tomorrow’s clash with Chelsea will see another meeting between Mac Allister and his former Brighton team-mate Moises Caicedo, who snubbed Liverpool to join the Blues in the summer in a £115m deal. Unlike Mac Allister, still idolised by Brighton fans, Caicedo left on bad terms and the Argentine, whose mother Silvina will be in the stands at Wembley, said: ‘I spoke a little with him, but no WhatsApp or social media.

‘Maybe he hurt me a little bit with what happened in the summer! No, it is completely fine. It is a personal decision.

‘He is an amazing player and a really good guy and I wish him well. I wish him all the best every day of his life — but not on Sunday.’