Footballer named after Home Alone character plays alongside Lionel Messi

Kevin Mac Allister of R. Union Saint-Gilloise made his international debut (Picture: Getty Images/ShutterStock) Kevin Mac Allister made his international debut alongside Lionel Messi for world champions Argentina in a comfortable win over Angola on Friday. Before you ask – yes, the 28-year-old defender who plays his football in Switzerland is indeed named after Macaulay Culkin’s iconic Home Alone character. Brother of Liverpool star Alexis, Kevin was handed a surprise call-up to the Argentina squad earlier this week, named as a late replacement for Chelsea star Enzo Fernandez. Head coach Lionel Scaloni named an experimental squad with qualification for next summer’s World Cup already in the bag. The Union Saint-Gilloise star was one of the lucky few called upon in the friendly match against Angola and enjoyed his dream moment on Friday, replacing Giovanni Lo Ceslo after an hour. In a moment neither will forget, Kevin joined his brother Alexis on the pitch, representing the national team together as La Albiceleste ran out easy 2-0 winners in Luanda. Lionel Messi was on the score sheet, netting what was his 115th goal for his country.   Kevin’s parents were such big fans of the 1990 blockbuster that they named one of their three boys after Kevin McCallister – although he didn’t quite realise the connection until years later. Mac Allister’s parents were huge fans of the Christmas hit (Picture: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock) ‘I saw the movie Home Alone, but I never asked my father or my mother about this,’ Kevin said in an interview alongside his brother with Sky Sports in 2023. ‘Basically we were hearing this interview and they asked him about his name and he didn’t know,’ Alexis said. Kevin’s brother Alexis plays for Liverpool (Picture: Getty Images) Kevin continued: ‘So I went to my family and my mother said, “yes you have your name because of the movie.” ‘He found out at 18, 19 years old that he was named after Home Alone!’ Alexis laughed. Alexis and Kevin played against each other when Liverpool met Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League that year. In May, the duo celebrated a rare family feat of lifting title trophies in the same afternoon in different countries, with Alexis lifting the Premier League and Kevin the Belgian championship.