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Highlights
- Liverpool will be playing Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League, creating an interesting match-up due to Alexis Mac Allister facing his older brother Kevin.
- The video of the Royale Union Saint-Gilloise squad celebrating the news is heartwarming, showing their excitement for the upcoming match against the Reds.
- LASK also had an enthusiastic reaction after drawing Liverpool in the same Europa League group
A very wholesome video of the Royale Union Saint-Gilloise squad being told they’re playing Liverpool in the Europa League has emerged online, while Alexis Mac Allister received a message from his brother.
Who are Liverpool playing in the Europa League?
The Reds will not be playing in the Champions League this season and instead will have to settle for a place in the European competition one tier below after finishing fifth in the Premier League last term.
As a result, however, this has afforded them the opportunity to come up against some teams they wouldn’t usually play.
And as footballing fate would have it, the draw threw out a rather interesting match-up when the groups were revealed this week.
Indeed, having only just arrived at Liverpool in the summer – signing from Brighton for an initial £35m – Mac Allister will be coming up against his brother Kevin when the two teams meet later this year.
Indeed, Kevin is one year older, plays for Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, and has already sent a message to his sibling in footage shared on the Belgian club’s official Twitter account.
As you can see, it’s a lovely moment as all the players celebrate with glee upon hearing the news, before the camera pans to the older Mac Allister who says to his brother: “See you soon bro!”
TNT Sports also shared LASK reacting to the draw, proving that Royale Union Saint-Gilloise weren’t the only one to be excited about the prospect of a trip to Anfield.
The full draw will see LASK, Union SG and Toulouse meet Liverpool in Group E of the 2023-24 Europa League.
How old is Alexis Mac Allister?
Liverpool’s Mac Allister is 24 years years of age, born 24 December 1998, while his older sibling, Kevin, is 25 and born almost a year earlier on 7 November 1997.
Incidentally, their father, Carlos Mac Allister, was also a professional footballer and played for Boca Juniors in the late ’80s and early ’90s – even sharing the pitch with Diego Maradona at one time.
In an interview with The Athletic, the Argentine revealed his family roots, saying: “According to our family, we came from Ireland, rather than Scotland.
“We came to Argentina, to a place called Pergamino, but that was three or four generations ago, and later my father and mother married and moved to a different place — Santa Rosa in the Province of La Pampa, which is where Alexis was born.
“Now, when we get together, they always say that our ancestors came from Ireland. I don’t know whether the ones before them were from Scotland, and went to Ireland from Scotland, and then our ancestors came here. But we say that we came from Ireland.”
After completing a move to Liverpool in the summer, Mac Allister has made an okay start to life at his new club, playing in all three Premier League games so far but his red card (ultimately overturned) and lowly 6.54 WhoScored average match rating (the 11th lowest in the squad), suggests there is room for improvement.
It will certainly be fascinating to see how he and his brother get on when the Reds play Royale Union Saint-Gilloise home and away in Europe later this year.