Jürgen Klopp told a journalist after Liverpool’s defeat to Inter Milan that he didn’t want to speak about the red card to Alexis Sanchez.
The Chilean was sent off for a second yellow card for a wild lunge on Fabinho and while there seems to be a considerable number of people who consider it to be a controversial decision, the German wasn’t impressed.
If we’re going to talk about controversial refereeing decisions involving Sanchez, it might be better to discuss why the former Manchester United forward wasn’t given a straight red card for his awful tackle on Thiago Alcantara.
For the above challenge, a shocker that the referee clearly had a good view of, a yellow card was awarded.
It was the first of two which saw him dismissed in the 63rd minute which effectively put an end to Inter’s comeback just two minutes after Lautaro Martinez scored a fantastic goal.
After the game, Jurgen Klopp was asked about the decision to send Sanchez off but he wasn’t happy about it.
He replied: “I don’t understand why we have to discuss that. If you played football, if you can win the ball only, if you bring yourself in a position that you endanger the opponent then you don’t win the ball. That’s it.
Alexis Sanchez was sent off after receiving a second yellow for this tackle on Fabinho. pic.twitter.com/hHlt9NFUCW
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 8, 2022
“If Fab goes in with the same intention, with a long leg, then both players get injured. Fab is there because he judged the ball that if he is not flying in, then I will get it.
“But because Sanchez is flying in and yeah, he touched the ball – that’s possible – but in the end he cannot stop and hit Fab in a really bad way, to be honest.
“I think he was quite lucky that he didn’t get a different colour [card] in the first half for a foul on Thiago, leg that high against the knee, similar situation. Passion is good, absolutely good, but if it leads to these kind of things it just doesn’t help.”
Just because Sanchez should have been sent off doesn’t mean he necessarily should have been sent off for the second incident but any suggestion that he didn’t deserve a second yellow is outrageous.
He was out of control and endangered Fabinho’s safety with the way he went for the ball and the fact that he nearly took Thiago’s leg off in the first place suggests it was a disaster waiting to happen.
Sending him off was the right decision in my book.