Alexis Mac Allister vs Víctor Muñoz: Every Liverpool player who has won the World Cup

Following a pair of upsets in this week's World Cup semi-finals, Liverpool are guaranteed to have a player arriving at AXA Training Centre with a winners' medal.

On Wednesday, despite rattling both posts, Alexis Mac Allister was a key figure as Argentina pulled off yet another late 2-1 comeback against Thomas Tuchel England side, this time at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. La Albiceleste are seeking to go back-to-back, with Mac Allister part of the squad who won the tournament in Qatar four years ago, albeit he was a Brighton player at the time.

Their opponents in New Jersey will be Spain, appearing in just a second-ever World Cup Final, victorious in 2010. A member of Luis de la Fuenta's squad is Víctor Muñoz, who has recently joined Liverpool from Osasuna for £34.5 million. He is yet to see a minute of action during this tournament, debuting at senior international level earlier this year against Serbia and Egypt, but could still arrive on Merseyside for the first time a champions.

Ahead of Sunday's final at MetLife, only five players have won the biggest prize of all while active Liverpool players, so who are they?

1. Gerry Byrne - England 1966

Following England's elimination in Atalanta, the boys of '66 remain the only side to lead the Three Lions to major tournament glory. Well, three members of Alf Ramsey's squad back then were Liverpool players. One of these was Gerry Byrne despite, remarkably, earning only two England caps, featuring in friendlies against Scotland in 1963 and Norway in '66, just before the tournament.

For Liverpool though, the left-back was a one club man, joining as a 15 year old in 1953, spending his entire senior career at Anfield, leaving 16 years later. During this period, he won seven trophies, including a pair of First Division titles and the FA Cup. In that final victory over Leeds at Wembley, Byrne played the entire 120 minutes, despite breaking his collarbone very early on, with no substitutes permitted at the time. Well, the defender was praised for his heroics, with manager Bill Shankly stating afterwards "he played the best game of his life".

2. Ian Callaghan - England 1966

Another member of the victorious '66 squad was Ian Callaghan. He accumulated only four England caps, two of which came 11 years later, but did feature during the World Cup, playing all 90 minutes of a 2-0 victory over France, assisting Roger Hunt's second goal; more on him shortly.

At club level, born and raised locally in Toxteth, Callaghan spent the majority of his career at Liverpool, before departing for Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the NASL. He racked up a humungous 857 appearances for the Reds, which remains the club record, 120 clear of Jamie Carragher, who is second on that list.

The midfielder won 19 honours with Liverpool, including back-to-back European Cups in the '70s, starting the victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach in Rome. Now 84 years old, he remains a bona fide club legend.

3. Roger Hunt - England 1966

Another true Liverpool icon and World Cup winner is Roger Hunt. He is an often overlooked key figure in England's victorious team from 60 years ago, playing every minute of every game, scoring against Mexico in the group stages, before bagging both during a win over France four days later. He began the tournament alongside Jimmy Greaves in attack, before the Tottenham legend suffered an injury, which saw Sir Geoff Hurst come into the team, and the rest is history.

Overall, Hunt scored 18 times in 34 England caps, on top of 285 goals in 492 outings for Liverpool. He was signed from non-league side Stockton Heath as a 20 year old, a key figure in two league title victories, as well as netting in the 1965 FA Cup Final triumph over Leeds, the Reds winning the competition for the very first time. To this day, only Ian Rush has scored more goals for the club than Hunt, with Mohamed Salah departing 28 short.

4. Fernando Torres - Spain 2010

Fast forward to 2010, and one will find the other Liverpool players who have been World Cup winners. 15 years on from his controversial sale to Chelsea, how do we reflect on Fernando Torres' Liverpool legacy? While he was at Anfield, Torres was possibly the best centre-forward on the planet, in his pomp in 2007/08, netting 30 times across the Premier League and Champions League. The fact he was sold for £50 million, replaced by Luis Suárez and was then terrible at Stamford Bridge all help to subside the anger towards him that existed on 31 January 2011 and thereafter.

At international level, he scored 38 times for Spain, only David Villa and Raúl have more, most memorably bagging the winner in the Euro 2008 Final in Veinna, bursting in-behind to dink the ball over Jens Lehmann. At the 2010 World Cup, Torres appeared in every game, starting four of them, including coming off the bench in extra time as la Roja defeated the Netherlands in Johannesburg.

5. Pepe Reina - Spain 2010

Also a member of the 2010 victorious Spanish squad, albeit a less important one, was Pepe Reina. During his 13 year international career, the goalkeeper racked up 36 caps, 28 of which came in friendlies, still an impressive tally, considering he was behind Iker Casillas and Víctor Valdés.

At Liverpool though, Reina is a legend, appearing almost 400 times for the Reds, keeping 136 Premier League clean sheets, which leaves him seventh on the all-time list. For comparison, he has 30 more shutouts than Alisson. Overall, only two keepers have made more Liverpool appearances than Reina, namely Ray Clemence and Bruce Grobbelaar, which is esteemed company to keep.

Sunday’s final is a win-win for Liverpool. Whether Alexis Mac Allister cements his legacy with a historic second consecutive World Cup, or new signing Víctor Munoz gets the ultimate introduction to the Anfield faithful, a gold medal is heading back to Merseyside and Iraola is inheriting a winner ready to lead the Reds into a brand new era.

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