Lisandro and Mac Allister held up the Falklands banner — then beefed up security at home
According to The Sun, Argentine Premier League players hired private security after celebrating with an 'The Falklands are Argentine' banner.
Argentina 2–1 England, on the pitch in Atlanta, and a banner that reopened a wound more than four decades old. The place in the World Cup final came wrapped in a provocation that went far beyond football — and the Argentine players who live in England felt the weight of it themselves.
According to British newspaper The Sun, Lisandro Martinez of Manchester United and Alexis Mac Allister of Liverpool reinforced security at their homes in the days following the match. Private security firms monitored the two players' residences in Manchester and Liverpool for two days after Argentina's comeback win. The Sun reports that no attempted vandalism or retaliation was recorded.
The concern was not just about the result. At the final whistle, the Argentines came down onto the pitch carrying a banner bearing the message "the Falklands are Argentine." Lisandro Martinez was seen holding the banner. Mac Allister was nearby during the celebrations.
The provocation has deep roots. The Falklands War lasted 74 days, between April and June 1982, and left 907 people dead — 649 Argentines, 255 British and three civilians from the islands. The archipelago, under British control since 1833, remains under British sovereignty to this day. For the English, the subject is not distant history.
Two players building their careers in the Premier League, celebrating a victory over England with that symbol, on the biggest stage in world football. The tension was foreseeable — and they knew it.
Argentina are in the final. The banner is already part of the collective memory. And Lisandro and Mac Allister head back to Manchester and Liverpool knowing that football, in this particular fixture, is never just football.