Xiaoba Translator Yanjia | McCa s handwriting: A great responsibility is brought to this person! If you want to win, you will suffer first, and then don t give up.

Recently, McAllister will tell his professional growth story at theplayerstribune, how he went from a Brighton margin player to a World Cup champion member to a Liverpool "Maybach" member to a Premier League championship.

I have to give my mom a big hug.

None of this would have happened without her.

I will not be a Premier League champion. I'm sure I won't be a world champion. Maybe you won't even know my name.

In December 2020, when I was having a video call with her, I cried loudly. I was in my apartment in Brighton and she was far away from her home in Buenos Aires. I was completely broken.

I said, "Mom, I can't hold on. I'm going home. I have to leave here."

At that time, I could hardly play in Brighton. This is embarrassing. Although I wear the No. 10 jersey of a Premier League club - this is the dream of many children in Argentina - I am an unknown person. My name is worthless. I feel cursed.

When I first transferred from Boca youth to England in early 2020, I only played one game on the bench and the world stopped after a few days. Everything has stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No football. No friends. Worst of all, I was trapped in a country with a language barrier. I actually started taking basic English classes through Zoom.

"Hola, Hello. My name is Alexis, how are you? The weather is good today. Mucho rain (a lot of rain). "

"Okay, OK. Say it again."

"Hello. My name is Alexis..."

Hahaha. Too frustrating.

As a football player, everyone thinks I became a man very early, but in other aspects, I am really a child.

I call my mother every day and ask her how to turn on the oven and where to put the detergent. If you stay alone and don’t play the ball, you will become depressed. Many people don’t know, but by that Christmas, my luggage was packed when the stadium was empty. Really, all packed. I have two departure invitations – one from Russia and one from Spain and I have made up my mind. One day my mom was in Buenos Aires and I called her and cried so hard that she told her, "I gave up. I can't hold on anymore."

But moms... they always know what to say, right?

No matter how old you are, you are still a child when you talk to your mother. She took me back to my brothers and I playing football every day in the backyard. In early summer, the grass was completely green, flat and perfectly trimmed. At the end of summer, it was turned into a brown mud pit by the sliding shovel we used to put down each other.

One to one, confronting each other.

One brother's toe was cut, another brother's cheek was cut, and another bleeding from his forehead.

"Hey, don't cry at mom, Alai! It's just bleeding."

Whenever someone's shot is outrageous, we will shout, "Costakuta!"

(A little joke for Boca fans.)

From childhood to adulthood, whenever the teacher asks me what career I want to do in the future, I will look at them like a madman.

"What job? What do you mean? Players, players, players."

Most people think that's because my father is the "Red-haired guy" (El Colorado) - he is a legend in Boca. But to be honest, even if my father was a plumber, I would still be fascinated. I remember the first time he took me and my brothers to the Candy Box Stadium to watch the game.

We walked about an hour for the last two blocks. Everyone stopped him, wanted to take a photo, wanted to sign, wanted to talk to him...that was the beginning of all the passion, and began to understand my father, what the player meant. That was the beginning of the journey. But man, I was such a savage back then. If a player messed up, um…what would you do? Maybe you will scold them, right?

So I did that.

I was about 6 years old at that time. Just imitate what you hear, do you understand?

" Bastard! Pass!"

Hahahaha. What can I say? I'm very passionate?

Then my dad finally had enough. He told me, "Ala, stop. You want to play football on the court one day, right?"

I said, "Yes. Of course."

He said, "It's simple from this. You don't know what it feels like to play football on the court. I never want to hear you scold players again."

What my father said to me, I will listen.

I apologized with my tail between my legs. (And until today, I only cursed at the TV at my own home - hahaha.)

My father and I reached an agreement. He said, "I will never ask you to do too much. I only ask you to do one thing. No matter what that is, always do it with passion."

He and my brothers made the same agreement. When we were teenagers, we all played football for the Argentine Youth Team, driving a 90-minute car to train every day, driving a 1.6-liter black Ford. On hot days, you turn on the air conditioner and it will go on strike. We call it "La Cuca". If you think we were driving an Audi, you obviously don't know our father. No, of course we are lucky, but the blessing of the "Red-haired guy" also has its limits. We passed this "cockroach" from Big Brother Francis to Kevin, and finally to me, and we drove it for millions of miles. I just wanted to listen to reggae music, but my brothers had a summer when they fell in love with Lamona Jimenez. I love his music, but that's the only thing I can hear. To me, it is still the "voice of football".

Violet bouquet...

Kiss and kisses...

Three McAllisters, in a Ford car, driving on the highway, Lamona's music was shocking...

Oh my god.

"Please let me play my song! Just once!"

"Shut up, brother. Respect the elders!"

When I was alone and sitting on the bench with my back, I missed those times so much. It’s always the mountain that looks high, right? I want to go home so much. But my mom let me see the light.

"Alai, remember how much you longed for this before? Remember the 'cockroach'? You must be brave. You can't give up now."

Can you imagine if I went to Spain or Russia? I will be an answer to the English bar Q&A competition.

"Next question: Who is the Argentinian who played 15 games for Brighton and has a name like an Irish?"

"Ah, damn. Who is that guy? What... what happened to him later?"

But it's not right, that's not my fate. My mom saved me. After Christmas, Brighton was covered in wounded soldiers, and they basically had no choice but to let me play. I think many people may say when watching "Match Day": "Who is this McAllister? Scotsman? He is from Argentina? What?! That guy with a ginger beard?!" In January 2022, when I scored twice in front of Everton, everything suddenly became clear. This reminds me of the story my father told me when I was a child. He also struggled very much when he first arrived in Boca to play. He was in a very painful life and didn't know where the problem was. He tried various ways to change his luck. One day, the last thing he could think of was to replace the longest shoe nail he could find.

Then he started to "kick the football with a knife in his mouth" (kick the football with murderous intent), just like we say in Spanish.

He became a tough guy. You have to kill him to pass him. He still can't explain why, but the boots changed his whole mindset. Every player has that moment of epiphany. To me, that day was Goodison Park. I've become different.

There are 11 months left before the World Cup, and I remember my father told me: "Ala, if you can continue to start in the Premier League, you will be selected for the Argentina team."

And I said to him at the time, "Dad, you are crazy. They are a close-knit group. They just won the Copa America. Impossible."

"Ala, I'll tell you..."

He is very obsessed with data and analysis, and he will send me all these screenshots...

"Ala, look, this guy only played 51% of the club's games. You play 73% now."

Hahahaha. OK, old man. Of course, of course.

A few months before the World Cup, everything changed when Dezelby became our head coach. The most important thing he helped me improve was my on-field observation ability - my "analysis" of the situation. Take a snapshot of the entire "chessboard" every two seconds. Let's take Odgao as an example. To me, he is one of the best players in the world with the best observation skills. His head never stops turning. Dezelby gave me this gift and it really improved my game.

can play football every week, and with the trust of the coach, the idea of the World Cup has begun to appear less far away. I will never forget that I received a call I had dreamed of at the hotel when we were away against Wolves. My father is right. I'm selected. I'm really going to Qatar. I immediately called him and my mom and we cried together.

Two years ago, I couldn't even get off the bench in Brighton.

Now I am going to go to the World Cup with Argentina and work hard to make history.

And in the first game, we did make history. The wrong kind! It's not disrespectful to Saudi Arabia, but they play very high in defense. Before the game we watched their game video in preparation, we were all thinking, "Wow, if they can't play perfectly for 90 minutes, we can score 15."

Unfortunately, they played perfectly.

We scored two or three goals, but VAR told us that it was offside, just a little bit short of the fingernails.

Everything in that game felt cursed. In the second half, some of us were warming up when we were already behind. I looked at the bench with hope. Suddenly, I saw the coach pointing at me, as if saying, "Come on, get on!"

I got goosebumps. OK, here it is. I'm going to play in the World Cup. I started running to the bench.

Then he began to wave his hand, as if saying, no, no, no.

He pointed behind me.

"Huh?"

"He! He!"

"What?"

"Not you, it's another!"

Hahaha. At the World Cup! The most embarrassing thing is that my family is sitting directly behind our bench. I turned around and saw my father shaking his head, as if saying, "Oh my goodness, Ala, what the hell?"

He will never let me forget that moment.

Saudi Arabia suffered for 90 minutes and they shocked the world.

Then, it was our turn to suffer. Everyone in the media is slamming us.

I think we all felt the pressure, but thankfully we had Messi come forward and speak. He told his hometown fans that they must continue to believe because we will not let the country down.

Simple words. But when Messi says it, you really believe it.

Luckily, as Argentines, we know how to endure the torture. This is in our DNA. In football, 90 minutes is for a reason. If you play perfectly for 80 minutes but don’t know how to endure the torture in the last 10 minutes, you will never become the champion.

As a country, I think this is our secret. Maybe we even enjoy this crazy, aren't we?

Look at the moment when everything got out of control against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and we started fighting. As Argentines, we were like fish in water at that moment. We love this. I remember when their bench rushed into the court, Belwin ran towards me, he wanted to catch me, his expression was very fierce. He looked really angry, as if he was going to beat me up. This makes me want to laugh a little. I can't help it. I looked at him, as if I was saying, "Don't you enjoy this? It's just a small frame, like fighting your brother in the yard. What's the problem?"

Van Dijk and Garkepo always talked to me about that moment now, and they complained, "Ah, you Argentines are really bastards. You always love to show off."

I just laughed it off.

What can I say? You started first, there were too many words. As Argentinians it feels like we were invited to a party!

That moment set the tone for our next game. We are fearless. It's weird because since I was a kid, I was always nervous before football games. Even when I was 8 years old, I felt like butterflies were flying in my belly. But I swear, I wasn't nervous throughout the World Cup. Not even nervous about France. The night before the finals, I slept for 10 hours. The

game is blurred most of the time. But the picture that always comes to my mind in the finals is that I pass the ball to Di Maria and let him turn the score into 2-0.

Di Maria. "Noodles" (El Fideo). He is such a special person, and he has endured too much abuse in his career. No one appreciates “noodles” as they should have done. When he scored, I ran over to celebrate with him and he cried. I mean, he really cried. Too impactful.

Imagine - you just scored a goal in the World Cup final and it felt like a relief, not just joy. I can only imagine the memories that flashed through his mind at that time.

I know many countries love football, but for Argentina, it is something on a spiritual level. Sometimes I think it means too much to us. Di Maria's face is the face of the entire country. That was a huge pain and a huge joy.

And of course, in overtime, Big Martin saved us all. He saved the whole country.

122 minutes and 40 seconds

I have been replaced. 3-3, a penalty shootout is coming. Everyone on the bench was very quiet, waiting for the final whistle. The whole stadium was actually very quiet. Very strange. Then, suddenly, the world stopped. Do you know that feeling? It seemed as if the air was pulled out of the stadium. For three seconds, no one breathed.

I only remember a blue jersey figure right in front of Martin, with the ball under his feet. No one around him. I never felt so helpless.

I think, it's over. There is no chance. We lost the World Cup.

But you know what we say about goalkeepers in Argentina, right?

"You have to be a goalkeeper or a fool."

Thank goodness, we have Big Martin, the craziest of them. I always say he has the spirit of playing football for a child. Only children think of doing what he does, because he lives in the present, do you understand?

The only way to describe that save is to recall how you felt when you were jumping in bed as a kid, pretending to be Buffon, Casillas or Abundan Sheri. Do you understand what I mean? I and my brothers have done this, right? Whenever mom goes to the grocery store, we slip into her room because she has the largest bed in the house. That hour was our stadium. One brother threw the ball, the other jumped around on the mattress, pretending that he was Abangdan Shari made a crazy flying save.

Stretched your arms and legs and jumped into the air, like a starfish. Do the impossible.

"Duck Abangdan Xieri! Oh my god! How did he jump?"

Big Martin did that night. He stretched out his left leg like a crazy child jumping in the bed, responding to the prayers of 45 million people.

I remember turning around and looking at the others on the bench, they all seemed to be stunned. No one spoke. No one blinked. I think I'm the only one who responds.

I shouted, "That guy saved the ball!"

Everyone looked at me like a ghost. Totally shocked.

I can hardly remember everything after that. During the penalty shootout, I felt like I was in another world. When Montel scored a penalty and made us champion, I didn’t even know how to celebrate. Everyone ran to Martin and Messi, they hugged each other, and I stood there alone, stunned. I don't know where to go. I turned to my family sitting directly behind the bench and just waved at them.

Just like a child after the first game. Hahaha.

"Hi, mom. Hi, dad. Am I doing well?"

They waved at me with tears in their eyes.

I turned around and ran into a referee. I don't know what to say, I greeted me like a normal game.

"Oh, hello. Playing well, huh? Good judgment. Thank you, sir."

I kept thinking: "No, it's impossible. Two years ago, I was nothing. Impossible... Impossible..."

I remember that my parents finally came to the court to celebrate with me, and that was the first time in my life I saw my father crying.

Next I know that we got on the plane home and landed in Buenos Aires, with the streets filled with 5 million people. I think this is the most important memory in my life. I think until that moment, no one among us really understands what we have achieved. People ran several miles along our bus. An old man said with tears in his eyes: "Thank you, thank you, thank you. We have been waiting for 36 years."

This is much more than football. I never like to get involved in politics or something, but I also know that the economy is very, very bad. People are trying their best to survive. But many people told me that the whole country stopped for a whole month. They endured every touch with us, and they forgot everything. Maybe that's why I've never felt nervous. I have no idea. All I know is that I will never forget the crowd running along the bus in the scorching sun.

I imagined myself getting old and told my grandchildren: "Have I ever told you about those children? That day, the whole country was celebrating in the sun?"

"I've said it, grandpa."

Hahahahahaha.

They had to take us away from there with a helicopter. The scene is so crazy. As world champions, we float above 5 million people. A few days later, I returned to Brighton. England mid-January! It's so cold! It's raining heavily! Hahaha. Too surreal. I will never forget Larana sat with me after training and he said, "When I watched the first few games, it seemed like Messi was giving you the ball, yes. But in the semi-finals and finals, it felt like he was looking for you. It seemed like there was a special connection between you."

I don't know if what he said was true. But it is a great honor to be comparable to Messi. Larana witnessed everything I went through. He said that means a lot to me.

I have no idea how much change is about to happen in my life.

At the end of that season, Klopp came to me. Actually, it's a bit like the James Bond plot. He flew over and we met secretly somewhere on our way to Brighton. He was a little shocked for me to do so. I won the World Cup, but I'm not a star at all. We had a coffee and he explained to me that he really wanted me to come to Liverpool because I reminded him a little bit of Gundogan, who has trained him to become one of the best all-around midfielders in the world at Dortmund. It's funny because when I was a kid, my father always shouted at me from the stands...

"Ala, enter the penalty area! Enter the penalty area!"

Every time our team crossed the center line.

"Enter the penalty area! Enter the ban!"

I don't know, probably he saw the same thing in me as Klopp saw.

"Don't play tricks! Cover the whole game (B2B)!"

From the moment I talked to Klopp, I knew I was destined to come to Liverpool. It is not so much that it is what he conveys as a person. It was a great conversation, it was the beginning of an extraordinary relationship.

But everything takes time. The club basically replaced the entire midfield. An iconic combination that has won everything. When I joined Sobosloy, Heraffenberg, and Endo Kazuki, it took us some time to get used to our playing style, do you understand? That midfield is very heavy metal. We are different types of players. Not that direct. We love possession. But when you have players like Salah, Dias, and Garkepo in the frontcourt, they want to get the ball yesterday. We took some time to get used to it.

I will never forget that we went to Luton to play 1-1, and returned to the locker room after the game, we knew we played poorly.

But then Klopp came in and he said something we really need to listen to. Honest and straightforward.

He said: "My original midfielder would have a way to win that game."

I remember I just looked down at the floor and thought to myself: Damn it. All right. He is right.

I think that was our turning point. We started to play more sharply, more direct, and faster. More kind. Ultimately we became very close as a team. Especially after Klopp announced that he was leaving. It was a total bolt from the blue. I remember getting texts from someone at the club saying there was a very early meeting. This has never happened. So I know something is wrong. But when I walked into the locker room and sat next to Salah.

I said, "What happened?"

He said, "Uncle Zha is leaving."

I said, "Come on. You are kidding, right?"

I thought this must be a joke. Klopp is the kind of person who is so obsessed with football. He loved it so much that I think he must be sick or something. I'm really worried. But he explained to us that he was just tired and needed some rest.

Now I fully understand. This level of pressure is too great. I actually agree with Guardiola’s statement about the Premier League. For me, this is the hardest trophy to win in the world. It's harder than the Champions League. The Premier League is nine months. Spiritually, physically, emotionally... he is really deadly. Look at Salah, for example. You can't imagine how much he has put in to stay top in this league.

Salah, he is very funny. There were weeks when I really tried to get to the gym earlier than him, but it was impossible. He was always there, sweating.

One day I asked him, "But Salah...when do you sleep?"

He said, "I don't like sleeping for more than seven hours. I will feel tired."

Hahaha.

"Will you feel tired?"

"Yes, too much. You only need six and a half hours."

He would stay in the gym for an hour, and then someone would say, "Salah, have you finished practicing? Go and have a meal."

"No, no. I just finished my abs. Now I have to really exercise."

When I first came, I tried to compete with him. I thought: OK, this guy is 31 years old. I'm 24 years old. Come and practice some abdominal muscles.

Damn... I think Salah and I gave up after practicing three times. I woke up the next morning and I was so sore that I could hardly sit up from the bed. Ha ha ha ha.

Salah set the tone for everyone in Liverpool. He is the most professional player I have ever met. He is a monster.

I really have to thank Slot, too. He is the perfect "bridge" after Klopp. Funny thing is that because I was so close to Klopp, my teammates always teased me and said, "Ah, Klopp is your dad.". It's strange... the World Cup, which feels unreal until today. Everything happened too quickly. It was a beautiful dream that I still haven't woken up.

But this Premier League champion...and this Liverpool team... is so real.

When the final whistle against Tottenham sounded, I knelt on my knees and started crying. It was like something hit my chest. I think it's because we have real brotherhood, which is very rare in football. After experiencing the tragedy of this summer and the excitement of knowing that I will be a father… it all has a deeper meaning for me.

"Oh, it's just football."

How can we say this again?

No, it's not just football. It's more than just a club. This is our family. It’s our memories, our legacy…we have to cherish it because we don’t know how long it will last.

This is why life is the best when you slow down and start to appreciate everything you have. And I'm really grateful for everything I have.

Ultimately, football is like life itself. It is so unpredictable.

Sometimes you play badly, but don't know why. Sometimes you hit it all, and don’t know why. Check out my story. In 2020, my name is worthless. I can't play in Brighton. I cried with my mother on FaceTime, begging to go home.

Two years later, I became the world champion. Then there is the Copa America champion. Now I'm the Premier League champion. He is even a Golden Globe nominee.

This is football, isn't it? Too crazy. The only way to explain my story is that I never gave up. This is what I want to teach my daughter in a few years.

Yes, Dad had fought against many things, but he knew how to overcome them. You just have to keep fighting. That's the great lesson.

This is the Argentina way, do you understand?

Maybe we don't like the relaxed way.

Yes, we want to win. But first, we need to learn to endure the torture.

It is this that makes it so beautiful.

【Exclusive view of the Premier League is in Migu】