Sanchez has finally given up the chase
AS Bayern Munich were given a penalty and Arsenal disputed Laurent Koscielny’s red card, one player turned his back and meandered towards the halfway line.
Alexis Sanchez was back in body but not quite in spirit. Sanchez strolled over for a chat with Bayern’s right back Rafinha as Koscielny made his exit and Robert Lewandowski scored his team’s sixth goal of the tie.
Disappointment? Maybe. But it seemed to epitomise Sanchez, resigned to his fate in a team he feels is inferior to his own quality.
When Arsenal and his manager needed something super-human, he did just enough. Closing down but without the usual intensity. Little bursts of interest while more often lost in his own world of selfpity. He was not downright awful.
There were flashes of his quality: a sumptuous pass or an explosion of pace when instinct took over.
But Sanchez was half-hearted and that might be worse on a night when Wenger desperately needed to salvage some pride.
The final traces of desire disappeared as he gave up on the chase on Arjen Robben when he danced away to score Bayern’s second.
Everything seemed like such a big effort. The quickest he moved was when he was replaced by Lucas Perez and sent a jaunty wave towards the fans which was returned with applause. His half- time exit was painfully slow and he was overtaken by the Greek officials and engulfed in a cloud of jeers.
By the time Bayern moved into double figures, Sanchez was laughing on the bench with Petr Cech. Not a crime, but not a good look. This is not how team spirit is generated. The rot has set in.
It is impossible to imagine Antonio Conte standing for such behaviour at Chelsea. As Wenger restored Sanchez to the team, Robert Pires was on television in France with his version of the training tiff which preceded the Chilean’s omission at Liverpool.
‘I was there,’ said Pires. ‘There was a bad tackle on Alexis Sanchez, a clash, he left the pitch.’ There was a disciplinary sanction. Nothing serious happened.’
No problem? Well, none apart from the fact Wenger felt obliged to leave out his most potent attacking threat in a vital game. And only turned to him when his side were two down at half-time and fudge the truth with tactical reasoning.
Uncertainty has surrounded Sanchez since he rejected a new contract and he has moved closer to full diva mode — ripping off gloves and storming down the tunnel.
Danny Welbeck pulling out in the warm-up meant Sanchez started on the left when he might have played down the middle. Dropping deep, he produced a couple of fine long passes which caused problems in Bayern’s defence but, in terms of penetration, Arsenal were getting more from Theo Walcott.
Sanchez was peripheral. Deep down, he probably held the view that the tie had been lost in Munich. Most likely, the first leg was the result which tipped Sanchez over the edge, the final confirmation that he is better than this lot in north London. There is only one place it can end.