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Carlos Mac Allister: "Messi is the best in the world, Maradona at 35 was already a former player"

2022-12-16T11:13:51.512Z


The one who was Maradona's teammate in Boca and in Argentina tells his experience while following his son Alexis, the revelation midfielder of the team led by Messi, in Qatar


Carlos Mac Allister (Santa Rosa, La Pampa, 1968) is not one of the 40,000 pilgrims from Argentina in Doha.

This Irish grandson is, like so many American pioneers, a man of many lives.

He was a defender for Boca Juniors, he was international with Argentina, he was a scout for Osasuna, he was a national deputy, he was Secretary of State for Sport with Mauricio Macri, and he was a promoter of the 2030 World Cup bid in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

He is now also the father of Francis, midfielder for Rosario Central;

Kevin, Argentinos Juniors winger;

and Alexis, the Brighton midfielder who changed Argentina's fortunes in the World Cup.

Ask.

Is there any family in the world whose father played with Maradona and his son with Messi?

Response.

Yes, there is one more.

Simeone.

Simeone played with Diego and Gio [Giovanni] played with Leo.

Gio wasn't lucky enough to come to the World Cup and I wasn't lucky enough to go to the World Cup either.

Not only that.

We founded the Mac Allister Sports Club 24 years ago and having a healthy institution in Argentina during that period is an odyssey.

My brother was a soccer player in Mexico, in Japan, in Argentinos Juniors and Estudiantes de la Plata;

I have a nephew in Malaysia in the First Division... We have incorporated football.

Q.

Alexis said that he and you argue about whether Messi is better than Maradona.

R.

No, we do not argue.

Without a doubt, Messi is the greatest in all of history.

I am rational.

I believe in what I see.

Messi's numbers are compelling.

Then you have to see the context: Maradona had many personal problems, gave many advantages, and despite that he was world champion.

It was not like Messi, who today, at 35, has a better body than at 24.

Q.

How did you meet Maradona?

R.

I played with his brother, the Turk, in Argentinos.

We left the same place.

I was one of the players he pampered.

One day in Boca he called Kily González, Verón, Giunta and me, and he gave each of us a gold Rolex.

Maradona with Carlos Mac Allister and their children.

Alexis, in the middle.

Q.

What happened to the Rolex?

R.

It was stolen from me one night, when leaving the Racing field.

He was parked, they broke the glass and they took a revolver from me.

I gave it to her.

I thought I was worth more than $5,000.

I kept the gesture.

Maradona was always bad for him, never for others.

Q.

Maradona wasn't more of a scorer because he devoted a lot of energy to organizing the game.

Do you think that now Messi has renounced the goal to think that way?

R.

No. Leaders have to assume their responsibilities.

They have to know that they will always have to catch the ball, because their teammates will give it to them.

If we are six people at the service of a company and we meet and a conflict arises, everyone immediately looks at it.

They look at the boss.

The same thing happens in a template.

When the team can't win, the player will give the ball to the one who can save it.

That was Maradona and now it is Messi.

You are not Messi for free.

You have to make a lot of things available to the world.

They naturally show up because they know what their responsibility is and what their partner is thinking.

Messi does not resign his responsibility to score goals.

That shocks me.

Against Australia he gives the ball to Alexis and he doesn't stay looking: he focuses the path to the goal;

Alexis gives it to Otamendi,

Otamendi bounces it and Messi pushes it.

When Messi goes on the play, he always looks for depth.

Alexis started as a 10 player in the Argentinos academy, which has a great tradition as a 10 player [Maradona, Borghi, Cambiasso, Riquelme…].

But many of them stayed by the wayside because they handed over the ball and watched the other finish the play.

And I, from outside the pitch, sometimes yelled at him: "Alexis, into the box!"

One day he got angry.

But that's what's happening today.

He throws the ball and goes to the area.

Messi has that habit that is divine.

But many of them stayed by the wayside because they handed over the ball and watched the other finish the play.

And I, from outside the pitch, sometimes yelled at him: "Alexis, into the box!"

One day he got angry.

But that's what's happening today.

He throws the ball and goes to the box.

Messi has that habit that is divine.

But many of them stayed by the wayside because they handed over the ball and watched the other finish the play.

And I, from outside the pitch, sometimes yelled at him: "Alexis, into the box!"

One day he got angry.

But that's what's happening today.

He throws the ball and goes to the area.

Messi has that habit that is divine.

Q.

It is rare for a professional soccer parent to have children who are professional soccer players.

How did he raise them not to accommodate?

A.

Don't raise them alone.

We were two.

Her mother and me.

We must value the work of mothers in the world.

Alexis Mac Allister during the semifinal match of Argentina, last Tuesday. AFP7 via Europa Press (AFP7 via Europa Press)

Q.

Are today's players better than before?

R.

We say that when we are getting old.

Science has done away with many lies.

You just have to know how to analyze the data.

The pass from a central defender, who has time, is not the same as the pass from an interior, who does not.

When I got divorced I began to submit reports to Ángel Martín González, sports director of Osasuna.

Since I had to be with my children over the weekend, and I had to do reports, I would sit them in front of the TV and tell them: you are going to continue at 2 and 4, you at 8 and 5, you at 10 and the 11. I the rest.

It was basic.

We counted four or five variables: passes well given, lost balls, duels won with a header... They were six, eight and nine years old and they were already learning to interpret the data.

Now if they ask me about European football, I know 10% of what they know.

This is a good generation of midfielders: Alexis, Enzo Fernández, Thiago Almada, Alejandro Domínguez, Exequiel Palacios... And this coach has put them on!

That allowed Argentina to stay alive

Q.

How do you explain that in this century in Argentina there has been such a great drought of midfielders?

R.

Now there is a good generation of midfielders: Alexis, Enzo Fernández, Thiago Almada, Alejandro Domínguez, Exequiel Palacios... And this coach has put them on!

When Argentina lost the first game, Scaloni had to make very tough decisions and he did.

That allowed Argentina to stay alive.

To the extent that the World Cup continued to progress, those who left have been recovering, because they did not leave because they were bad but because they came with little football.

Argentina had the misfortune to arrive in Qatar with most of the players injured or not playing for their teams.

Q.

Was it clear that Alexis would be on the list?

A.

I was convinced.

When I saw the level he reached in Brighton in May, it was clear to me.

Alexis's best position is inside.

I told Brighton this when last year they put him behind the striker, because he has a good pass, sacrifice, he is strong on divided ball, aggressive, supportive, he knows how to find spaces.

Potter redoubled the bet and put him as a pivot and his performance in the first 14 days of this Premier has been impressive.

He has the statistics of the best: Kovacic, Hojbjerg, Henderson, Brozovic… I send him all the comparative reports.

Q.

Did you not go to the 1994 World Cup because you hit Burrito Ortega in a classic?

A.

Upside down!

Because I didn't hit him!

I should have buried him!

Valdano, who is a football philosopher, said it: "Each player must keep intact a small quota of crime."

I didn't have it that day.

Precisely that day!

Q.

There are 40,000 Argentine fans in Doha.

No selection draws more people.

How father is not worried that his son supports the pressure of an entire town?

R.

Alexis is not a boy who will weigh the pressure.

It is the best quality of him.

I went to see him in his second game in the First Division.

He grabbed the ball in the right winger position and slotted in a forward switch to the left winger position and put it to his chest.

I said: 'This is a First Class player!'

He showed character.

Argentinos needed to win and there were two minutes to go.

In these circumstances the easiest thing is to give it to the striker who is two meters tall, so you don't make mistakes.

Q.

How do you know that it is a Mac Allister?

R.

When he is going to lock, he locks with the boots forward.

You always have to work with the iron.

If you lock from the side, you tear your ligaments.

It's the only thing he has from me.

I did not give passes of 50 meters.

If Messi is very marked and there is another teammate marked, you have to give it to Messi.

Some genius will do because he is the best in the world.

And the best in the world must be used

Q.

Is it important to have character so as not to give all the balls to Messi?

R.

If Messi is marked and there is another with a huge advantage, you have to give it to the one who is unmarked.

Now, if Messi is very marked and there is another teammate marked, you have to give it to Messi.

Some genius will do because he is the best in the world.

And the best in the world must be used.

What you cannot do is not take into account that if Messi is marked by three means that somewhere there are two of his teammates who are free.

You have to have the intelligence to find the others.

Q.

Many Argentine players feared Messi.

Now love can more than fear?

R.

That has to do with the personality of young people.

When you don't have youngsters who are encouraged, it's a problem because Messi is a monster: he's been the best player in the world for 15 years.

No one had such a great reign.

Maradona at 35 was already a former player.

My son was six years old when Messi started.

Q.

What changed in Messi's relationship with the fans?

R.

Messi for a few years has shown the Argentines that he loves the country and the shirt as Maradona loved it.

Those who could deny Messi, one is a butcher, the other is a doctor and the other is a lawyer.

Soccer guys know that for 15 years he is the best.

Q.

What is the craziest thing that happened to you with Maradona?

R.

One night, doing Showbol [a mix of 11 football and futsal show] we almost died in Brazil.

Maradona flirted with death every day.

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Source: elparis

All sports articles on 2022-12-16

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