Arsene Wenger accuses Liverpool midfielder Fabinho of ‘cheating’ to get Inter’s Alexis Sanchez sent off

Arsene Wenger has claimed that Fabinho crossed the line of ‘being clever’ into ‘cheating’ to get Alexis Sanchez sent off during Liverpool’s Champions League tie with Inter Milan on Tuesday.

Sanchez was given a second yellow card for a dangerous tackle on the Liverpool midfielder just past the hour mark.

It came at the worst possible time for Inter who had just taken the lead at Anfield to pull the aggregate score back to 2-1 - Lautaro Martinez’s wonderful strike finding the top corner.

There has been plenty of discussion regarding the sending off, however, with the former Arsenal and Manchester United forward touching the ball before following through on Fabinho.

Whether the ball was won or not, the challenge was reckless and could easily have injured the Brazilian.

But Arsene Wenger - who managed Sanchez at Arsenal - set his sights on the Liverpool midfielder, even going so far as to accuse him of cheating.

“He rode the line between cheating and being clever,” Wenger told beIN Sports. “Fabinho on this foul he was on the other side, he was cheating, he made more of it.

“Maybe he had pain and he was touched by Sanchez. You cannot say it was completely fake. But maybe he could have got up quicker.

“It’s one of these fouls…when it’s one of your players, you say it’s clever.

“When you are completely neutral like we are supposed to be, you would say he could have made less of it, but he touched him well, you cannot say he faked it.

“But he didn’t want to hurt him, he played first the ball.”

Differing opinions

Speaking on BT Sport, former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand also thought that Sanchez’ second-yellow was ‘harsh’.

“I think he’s won the ball. You’re telling me he shouldn’t go to win that ball?” Ferdinand asked.

“It’s stupid that he’s given the ref an opportunity to make a decision. But I still think it’s harsh to give a yellow card. It’s a foul in today’s game, but I think it’s harsh to give a yellow card.”

But Jurgen Klopp said after the game that he didn’t think Sanchez should have been on the pitch to foul Fabinho in the first place as he should have been sent off for another clumsy challenge on Thiago in the first-half.

“I think he was quite lucky he didn’t get a different colour in the first half for a foul on Thiago,” Klopp said.

“With the leg that high against the knee, a similar situation.

“Passion is good, absolutely good, but if it leads to these things, it doesn’t help.”

And Peter Walton also believed that referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz was right to give Sanchez his marching orders.

“The law is quite specific,” he said.

“The foul is for a reckless challenge and in law, reckless means in regards to the consequence of the dangers to an opponent.

“Yes, it’s the modern side of refereeing but he’s dived in and he hasn’t taken sufficient action to avoid contact with his opponent.

“The follow through has caught the Liverpool player, he’s seen it as a reckless challenge and given it.

“The player himself is probably a little bit silly making such a challenge.”

Luckily, the dangerous tackle had no lasting effect on Fabinho and he managed to complete the full 90 minutes.

Liverpool were able to hold out comfortably against the 10-men of Inter Milan, progressing through to the quarter-finals with a 2-1 aggregate win.

The draw for the quarter-finals will take place on Friday 18 March.