Liverpool has always been a place where legends are made. From Kenny Dalglish to Steven Gerrard, from Fernando Torres to Mohamed Salah, every generation has had its heroes. But sometimes, the stories that come out of Melwood or Kirkby training ground are even more powerful than the goals scored in front of the Kop. And this week, Alexis Mac Allister gave Liverpool fans one of those stories. The Argentine midfielder, a World Cup winner and one of the most intelligent players in the current Liverpool team, has just revealed that he once saw a teammate at Anfield who reminded him of Lionel Messi himself. For Liverpool fans, that is not just a compliment — it is something that makes the heart race.
Mac Allister is not a man who throws out big words lightly. He has played alongside Messi. He has trained with him, laughed with him, lifted the biggest trophy in world football with him. He knows exactly what makes Messi different from everyone else. And yet, when asked by a fan interview for TNT Sports before the Merseyside derby if there was anyone in Liverpool training who reminded him of Messi, Mac Allister had a surprising answer. He said Luis Díaz. The Colombian winger, who left Anfield in the summer transfer window for Bayern Munich, was the player that made Mac Allister feel like he was sometimes standing in front of Messi during training.
The midfielder smiled as he said it, but you could feel the honesty. He remembered how hard it was to face Díaz in training. He even admitted that sometimes, just to stop him, he had to put in a few tackles. That is how tricky, how fast, how unpredictable the Colombian was. Mac Allister even compared him with Ousmane Dembélé, saying that on the night Liverpool faced PSG away, the Frenchman was unplayable, and Díaz was right up there at that level. For Liverpool fans, this was both a beautiful memory and a painful reminder.
Because Díaz is no longer here. The summer rebuild, Arne Slot’s first true stamp on the team, saw Luis Díaz leave for Bayern Munich. It was a transfer that made sense on paper. Liverpool had too many forwards, too many options in attack, and keeping them all happy was always going to be a problem. Díaz, ambitious and hungry for a new challenge, chose Germany. For Bayern, it was a gift. For Liverpool, it was a goodbye wrapped in logic but filled with sadness. And now, to hear Mac Allister call him “like Messi in training,” it feels like a knife twisted slowly in the heart of every supporter who watched the Colombian light up Anfield with his fearless runs.
But Mac Allister did not stop there. He also shared that Messi himself had spoken to him about Liverpool. During international breaks with Argentina, when the two World Cup winners sat together, Messi would sometimes talk about the Reds. Of course he knew about Liverpool — his great friend Luis Suárez had played there, he had played against them himself, and he had felt the pain of Anfield on that famous night in 2019 when Liverpool came back from 3-0 down to Barcelona to win 4-0. Messi had been on the pitch that night, Messi had seen the Kop roar, Messi had seen Divock Origi and Gini Wijnaldum destroy Barcelona. And Messi, even now, still remembered.
Mac Allister smiled when he said that Messi watches a lot of players. He studies them. He notices them. And he had spoken about Liverpool, about the club, about the players. For Liverpool fans, hearing that Messi talks about their club is like hearing that the king of football himself still pays attention to Anfield. It is respect, it is recognition, it is another reminder of how big Liverpool is in the story of football.
But the detail that Mac Allister gave about Díaz is the one that will not leave the minds of supporters. Because in football, comparisons with Messi are sacred. Nobody gets compared to him easily. Nobody deserves it unless they have done something truly magical. And yet here was Mac Allister, a man who wore Argentina’s shirt beside Messi, saying that in training, Luis Díaz gave him that same feeling. The twists, the dribbles, the speed, the way you never knew what he would do next.
It makes you think back to Díaz’s best days at Liverpool. The debut goal against Cardiff, the Champions League nights where defenders could not keep up with him, the way he ran at Villarreal, at Benfica, at Tottenham. It makes you remember how he carried the team at times when Salah was tired, when Mane had gone, when Jota was injured. He became a symbol of chaos, of danger, of unpredictability. And now, with these words from Mac Allister, his memory grows even brighter.
The sadness of his exit now feels heavier. Because Liverpool fans always suspected Díaz was special, but to hear a teammate say he was like Messi is confirmation that maybe they never truly appreciated just how rare he was. At Bayern Munich, he will have the chance to show it every week. For Liverpool, the chapter is closed, but the story will remain.
This is football, though. Players come, players go, but the memories remain. Mac Allister himself is proof of that. He was not at Liverpool when Díaz arrived, he did not play in the Champions League final against Real Madrid in 2022, but he became part of the next great story. Alongside Szoboszlai and Gravenberch, he built a midfield that carried Liverpool back to the Premier League title. He has given his energy, his creativity, his calmness. He is loved by the fans. And yet, in a quiet moment, when asked about Messi, the player who came to his mind was not Salah, not Núñez, not even Trent Alexander-Arnold. It was Luis Díaz.
For Liverpool fans, this is a bittersweet tale. It is joy because it shows that Liverpool had a player of such talent that even Messi’s teammate thought of him in the same breath. It is pain because that player no longer wears red. But perhaps it is also inspiration. Because it shows what is possible, what can happen at Anfield, what kind of magic can be born on that pitch.
Mac Allister’s words will live with supporters for a long time. In the days leading up to the derby against Everton, they will be repeated in pubs, in homes, in conversations. They will remind fans of the past and give them hope for the future. Because if Liverpool could once have a player like Messi in training, then maybe one day they will again.
And maybe that is the true beauty of what Mac Allister revealed. Not just that Luis Díaz was special, but that Liverpool, as a club, keeps attracting players who carry that level of magic. Messi himself knows it, Messi himself talked about it, and now Liverpool fans have heard it from one of their own players.
When Anfield sings on derby day, when Mac Allister walks out in red, when the battle begins, these words will still echo in the minds of those who heard them. Luis Díaz, like Messi in training. A compliment, a memory, a story that will forever belong to Liverpool.
