Mac Allister ensures Liverpool guarantee this summer as exit avoided

Mac Allister was a driving force in helping Argentina come from behind to beat the Three Lions 2-1 in their World Cup semi-final in Atlanta on Wednesday evening.

And in doing so, the midfielder guaranteed one Reds player will lift the trophy after new signing Victor Munoz's Spain reached Sunday's final with a 2-0 win over France the previous evening.

One of the duo will therefore become only the sixth current Liverpool squad member to win the World Cup after Roger Hunt did so with England in 1966 and both Fernando Torres and Pepe Reina on the tournament with Spain in 2010.

Ian Callaghan and Gerry Byrne were also part of the England squad in 1966, although at the time only those who played in the final were given a medal. The duo were eventually awarded medals in 2009 after a campaign by the Football Association for FIFA to reward all squad members.

Mac Allister was a Brighton player when he won the World Cup in 2022, joining Liverpool for £35million the following summer.

Argentina had benefited from a straightforward run to the semi-final clash against England and were in danger of being eliminated in a whimper when they went behind to Anthony Gordon's strike early in the second half.

But a succession of negative substitutions from England boss Thomas Tuchel and a number of poor individual performances from the Three Lions invited Argentina to dominate the latter stages in which Mac Allister hit the woodwork twice.

While Mac Allister has started six of Argentina's seven games at the World Cup, Munoz has yet to feature for a single minute having been injured during the early part of a largely disappointing tournament overall.

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