Alexis Sanchez played 90 minutes against Brazil despite injury risk, reveals Chile manager Jorge Sampaoli

Arsenal allowed Sanchez to join up with his international team-mates confident the injury was not too serious

Chile manager Jorge Sampaoli has admitted that he played Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez for 90 minutes against Brazil despite knowing he was an injury risk.

Sanchez limped out of the Gunners' 3-0 win over Manchester United before heading out to join up with his international teammates last week.

Arsenal's medical team were concerned the former Barcelona forward would aggravate the injury while away with the national squad, and conveyed those fears to Sampaoli.

Chile's coach admitted he knew Sanchez was at risk of picking up an injury, but decided to play him for the duration of the game against Brazil anyway.

"Alexis arrived not at his top form, with pain in the adductor," said Sampaoli.

"He couldn’t play at 100 per cent but we thought that for us him not playing was to give too much advantage to our rivals because his presence in our team makes things difficult for our opponents."

Sanchez and Chile will face Peru later this week.

By AFP 10 hrs ago
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