Arsene Wenger has accused Liverpool midfielder Fabinho of ‘cheating’ in order to get Alexis Sanchez sent off.
The Inter Milan forward was sent off for a second yellow after a challenge on the Brazilian international.
It came just a minute after Lautaro Martinez scored the only goal on the night, as the Reds progressed to the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 2-1 aggregate victory.
Alexis Sanchez was shown a second yellow card for a challenge on midfielder Fabinho
Arsene Wenger has accused Fabinho of ‘cheating’ in order to get Sanchez sent off
Wenger, who signed Sanchez for Arsenal back in 2014, suggested Fabinho ‘made more of it’ to get his opponent sent off.
The Frenchman told beIN SPORTS: ‘Borderline between cheating and being clever.
‘He was cheating, he made more of it. Maybe he had pain, he was touched by Sanchez. You cannot say it was completely fake.
Wenger said he believes Fabinho ‘made more’ of the challenge made by his former Arsenal player
‘Maybe he could have got up quicker. It’s one of those fouls – when it’s one of your plays you say it’s clever, when you’re completely neutral like we’re supposed to be you can say he could have made less of it.’
‘He didn’t want to hurt him, he played first the ball.’
Despite his comments, Wenger believed Liverpool deserved to qualify despite their loss on the night.
However, the 72-year-old feels the referee ‘killed the game’ with that red card on Sanchez.
Sanchez’s sending off swayed the game in Liverpool’s favour just a minute after Inter scored
CBS and BT Sports pundits including Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher and Rio Ferdinand, all agreed that the decision was harsh on Sanchez.
They felt that Sanchez had won the ball, and despite the follow-through, there was nothing he could do to get his foot out of the way.
Liverpool will find out on March 18 who they will face in the next stage of the Champions League.
