Argentine midfielder Alexis Mac Allister joined Liverpool from Brighton last summer and has been a regular in Jurgen Klopp’s system. He is a trusted member of new manager Arne Slot’s squad and has been a regular starter since the opening game of the Premier League season.
The Merseyside club is still going strong and leading the domestic league, but with the Champions League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup to come, they have a lot of games to play. Meanwhile, the national team players have to play more matches and are prone to fatigue.
South American and Asian players, in particular, are forced to travel long hours for each international match. Mac Allister, a key player in Argentina’s national team, thanked the clubs for their generous support, but was honest about some of the difficulties.
“To be honest it’s not at all easy, but you also have to say that we get great support from the club,”
“Of course, we can’t avoid the different time zones or the long travel times, but we can say that the club has been impeccable with us and whenever we’ve played, they’ve arranged private planes so that we get back in the best way possible to England.”
“So these are the finer details that help us greatly but obviously the difficulty is there.”
“We can’t deny it and it’s something that we need to continue learning from, to continue to be better as professionals by recovering in the best way because the games come around quickly, the trips are long and ultimately you have to perform.”
Liverpool ECHO
In recent years, the number of games played at both club and national level has been on the rise, with managers and players often criticising this. Lack of conditioning is also directly linked to injuries, so it is no surprise that strikes against FIFA and UEFA are about to happen.
Nevertheless, clubs and players must work together to ensure that they perform at their best on the pitch. There is an impression that we have entered a difficult period as professional footballers, but will the 25-year-old former Brighton midfielder continue to supply a high level…?