Arsene Wenger has slammed Fabinho for ‘cheating’ during Liverpool’s second-leg 1-0 Champions League defeat to Inter Milan on Tuesday night, as he told beIN SPORTS.
The Serie A champions were trying to overcome a 2-0 deficit from the first-leg at the San Siro.
Inter battled and battled throughout the game before Lautaro Martinez rifled home just after the hour mark to test the nerves of the Anfield faithful.
But, two minutes later, the away side’s momentum was killed when ex-Arsenal man, Alexis Sanchez, was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Fabinho.
That, according to Wenger, ‘killed the game’, as he disagreed with the call and felt that Liverpool’s 28-year-old’s midfielder was ‘clever’ in getting Sanchez sent off.
“The referee killed the game, at the wrong moment,” said Wenger. “Liverpool deserved to qualify over the two games, even today they hit the post three times.
“But I must say I don’t agree with the referee’s call to give a red card, as much as he could have given a red for the first foul. Not only was it not a foul, but Fabinho made most of it.
“It’s borderline between cheating and being clever. In this case, Fabinho was on the other side of being, he was cheating. He made most of it.”
Liverpool weren’t at their best yesterday, but it doesn’t matter too much because they got the job done over the two legs.
Whilst Inter made life very difficult for them, the home side did hit the woodwork on a number of occasions.
The second yellow for Sanchez did go in their favour, although, his first booking, a foul on Thiago, was probably more of a straight red than anything else.
Either way, Liverpool’s quest in pushing for all the trophies is still on.
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