There is one scene in Home Alone that is instantly recognisable. It comes on a flight to Paris when Kate McCallister, played by Catherine O’Hara, suddenly realises the family have left their eight-year-old son Kevin, played by Macaulay Culkin, home alone in the U.S. city of Chicago.
“KEVIN!” she screams.
It was this scene Union Saint-Gilloise used to announce their new signing Kevin Mac Allister in July.
His mother, Silvina, loved the 1990 movie so much that she named her son after Culkin’s character when he was born seven years later and the Belgian Pro League side did not waste their opportunity.
“The video announcement was a bit of fun — I’ve had to get used to it since I made my professional debut,” says Mac Allister. “I know I’m called Kevin because of the movie and people think it’s funny.”
Liverpool have drawn Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League, which means Alexis Mac Allister will face his brother… Kevin.
Here’s @CaoimheSport confirming he is indeed named after the Home Alone character 🏡 pic.twitter.com/XUHzjFuI3x
— The Totally Football Show (@TheTotallyShow) September 1, 2023
The 25-year-old centre-back’s move from Argentinos Juniors in Buenos Aires in his homeland of Argentina came a month after his little brother Alexis completed his £35million ($43m) transfer to Liverpool from Brighton & Hove Albion.
During a flight home to Brussels from Switzerland on September 1, a camera was pointed in Kevin’s direction to capture his own O’Hara-esque scene. Union’s players, who had qualified for the Europa League by defeating Lugano 1-0 to complete a 3-0 aggregate win in their play-off tie, received the news they had been drawn in the same group as LASK of Austria, France’s Toulouse and… Liverpool.
Kevin stood up, leading the celebrations. This was a moment he, Alexis. and their family back home in Buenos Aires, had been desperate for. When he landed, the first thing he did was phone his brother.
— Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (@UnionStGilloise) September 1, 2023
Alexis, who is 13 months younger than Kevin, was calm as they chatted about the prospect of facing each other at Anfield on October 5 and Lotto Park (neighbours Anderlecht’s home ground, where Union will play their European fixtures due to their 9,400-capacity Joseph Marien Stadium not being UEFA approved) on December 14. Their excitement centred on the opportunity for their family to travel from South America to be with them.
Bringing calm to the call was not unusual for Alexis. It is his unflappable manner that Kevin believes has led his brother from Argentinos Juniors to the Premier League, via a loan at leading Buenos Aires side Boca Juniors (where Kevin was playing at the time), to winning the World Cup with Argentina last December.
“Alexis is a very special player. He has always been fighting,” Kevin tells The Athletic. “He was different to other players because he was never nervous. He always stayed calm and positive. He always had the technical ability, but his mentality was always important in reaching that level.
“If you see my brother when we won the World Cup, he stays calm. All of the other players run to Leo Messi and he (Alexis) walks to shake the hands of his opponents and the referees. Then he goes to celebrate.”
As Alexis navigated his way around the turf at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar, Kevin was in tears up in the stands after Argentina defeated holders France on penalties to win their third world title.
After the trophy was lifted by captain Messi, families and friends of the players gathered on the pitch. Kevin, Alexis and their older brother, 27-year-old Francis, who plays in midfield for Rosario Central in Argentina’s top flight, shared a special moment when they stood in the goalmouth and held the World Cup trophy together.
“When I see this picture,” Kevin pauses for a second, “I think about the past, when we were younger and we played football together. It was always me as the defender, Francis in the middle and Alexis in attack.
“One of the best memories is when we all played together for Argentinos Juniors against San Lorenzo. Francis and Alexis started and I was a substitute. In that moment you aren’t thinking, ‘Wow, I am playing on the same team with my brothers’. You just think about winning the match. It is only when the game is over you can think about how special it was.
“So when I see this picture, I think about a lot of moments, like when Alexis went to his first pre-season with Argentinos Juniors and had an injury and had to go into the second team. Then he recovered and worked every day in the company of me and Francis. When I see this picture, I see all of these moments because the way there, to being a winner, was very difficult.”
Kevin’s brothers have several tattoos, but he only has one. It depicts the World Cup trophy, his brother Alexis and the No 20 (his squad number at the finals). Moving to Europe has been a dream come true for Kevin and means he has the opportunity to see more of his younger brother.
On the opening weekend of this Premier League season last month, he stood in the away end at Stamford Bridge watching his brother’s Liverpool debut against Chelsea.
“I enjoyed being with the fans and listening to them sing,” Kevin, who went unnoticed by Liverpool fans, says. “When my brother did a good move, the fans were loving it. I can’t wait to get to Anfield — a historic place in all of football. If you think about the best supporters in Europe, you think about Liverpool.”
Kevin was planning a trip to a Liverpool home match as a spectator in December but, all being well, in less than a month he will be playing at Anfield. He has faced Francis twice in games before but never Alexis.
“It is difficult to play against family or a friend because I always want the best for them,” says Kevin. “But it is a dream to play against my brother at Anfield. When we are at the table for dinner, we stay and speak about football. When we are chilling on the sofa, we speak about football. Football is our passion.”
Their father, Carlos, ignited their love of the game having played alongside Diego Maradona for Boca Juniors and Argentina. Kevin recently spent time with Maradona’s brother, Lalos, in Belgium as the Diego Maradona Soccer Academy visited Union.
“We could never see my father play football as he played 20 years ago, but we have always watched videos of him and we always speak with him about football,” Kevin says. “He is big on tactical and technical stuff and always tells us how we have played or how we need to play.
“My father would speak about Maradona all the time. And he didn’t only love Diego Maradona the player — but Diego Maradona the person.”
Two of the most important figures in Argentinian football history are Maradona and Messi. The Mac Allister family are connected to both.
“Leo Messi is special to Argentina because he showed a history of never giving up. He chose Argentina and all his football life he has tried and tried to win with Argentina,” Kevin says.
Alexis famously blushed the first time he met Messi, with the Argentina captain later telling their team-mates to stop calling him “Colo”, which means ginger.
It is through their father that the family get their Irish and Scottish ancestry. The name Kevin is of Irish descent, deriving from the name Caoimhin. This was not its intended use when Silvina and Carlos named their second-born son Kevin in 1997 — though it does feel fitting given the Mac Allisters’ ancestral links.
The defender, who featured for Argentina Under-23s once in 2021, says the family hope to visit Ireland and Scotland in the future.
“I have never been to either of these countries,” he says. “In Europe, I have only been to England, and now Belgium and Switzerland. I would really enjoy going back to where it all started for the Mac Allisters.”
Kevin Mac Allister has done something Kevin McCallister never managed — made it to Europe.
(Top photo: Vincent Kalut/Photonews via Getty Images)
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