‘He was cheating, he made more of it’
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has accused Liverpool midfielder Fabinho of cheating in order to get Alexis Sanchez sent off on Tuesday night.
Sanchez, who was playing for Inter Milan, was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge during the Champions League round of 16 second leg tie at Anfield moments after Lautaro Martinez had scored for the away side.
The Italian champions were unable to find a second goal to take the game to extra-time as Liverpool’s 2-0 win from the first leg was enough to help see them through to the quarter-finals.
But Sanchez’s second yellow offence was a cause for debate, with many feeling it was harsh given that the Chile international made contact with the ball first before connecting with Fabinho on the follow through.
Wenger was one of those, but he felt even stronger about it and accused Fabinho of cheating in order to send off his former player and reduce Inter to 10 men.
“Borderline between cheating and being clever,” the Frenchman said, speaking on beIN Sport.
“Fabinho, on this foul, was on the other side…he was cheating, he made more of it.
“Maybe he had pain but…he was touched by Sanchez, it wasn’t completely fake. Maybe he could have got up quicker.
“He was cheating, he made more of it!”
More from Arsène Wenger on Fabinho’s reaction to the challenge from Alexis Sanchez, adding that the Inter attacker did not want to hurt the Liverpool midfielder. #beINUCL #UCL
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“It was one of those fouls, if it was your player you say ‘it’s clever,’ when you’re completely neutral you say ‘he could have made less out of it.’
“He touched him but he didn’t want to hurt him, he touched first the ball.”
Jurgen Klopp meanwhile was unsurprisingly not as sympathetic towards Sanchez and claimed that he could have even been sent off in the first half.
He said: “It was lucky he didn’t get a red card in the first half for the one on Thiago.”
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