Inter forward Alexis Sanchez could consider himself fortunate not to have been sent off earlier than he had been in yesterday evening’s Champions League clash with Liverpool, according to Italian media.
The analysis in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport is that the Chilean could well have been given a straight red card for the tackle which saw him given the first of two yellow cards.
Sanchez was dismissed barely a minute after Lautaro Martinez had put the Nerazzurri ahead on the night, for a rash sliding tackle on Liverpool midfielder Fabinho.
Referee Mateu Lahoz did not judge the tackle on Fabinho to be worthy of a straight red, but it was a clear yellow, and Sanchez had already been walking a tightrope after a similar late tackle on Thiago Alcanatara towards the end of the first half.
In the view of the Gazzetta, the first one on Thiago was even worse than the tackle that he made to get himself sent off, and it would have been understandable had he been given a red card straightaway.