The raw emotion shown by Alexis Mac Allister as he grabbed the Liverpool badge on his shirt and celebrated in front of the Kop told you all that you needed to know.
Just a day earlier, Mac Allister had spoken with a different kind of emotion inside the press room at Anfield as he expressed his sadness at Liverpool not offering him a new contract during the summer.
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The Argentina international, who is currently contracted until 2028, spoke passionately about his love for the club and the city, and how he didn’t feel like he had anything to prove – but there was an admittance that he needed to show the level he knew he could perform at.
Thankfully for Andoni Iraola and Liverpool, Mac Allister did just that by letting his football do the talking in their 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.
From the outset against Diego Simeone’s side, the midfielder seemed like a man on a mission. He blazed over early on from outside the box then picked up a booking just before the half-hour mark.
His goal wasn’t quite like the strike against Tottenham on the day the Reds won the Premier League in April 2025 – one that produced an actual seismic event, reaching a peak magnitude of 1.74 on the Richter scale – but it was more than good enough to beat one of the best goalkeepers in the world, Jan Oblak.
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And it was certainly what Iraola and the Anfield hierarchy would have wanted to see after a below-par 2025-26 campaign from Mac Allister.
The understanding is the powers that be at Liverpool were of the belief that Mac Allister’s performances did not warrant the offer of fresh terms.
But if he can carry on like this, then it will be a question of when rather than if that offer is made for whoever replaces Richard Hughes – even if Mac Allister said he didn’t know if his goal would boost his chances of a new contract.
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