Alexis Sanchez can have no complaints over his Anfield red card for two cautions.
The Inter Milan striker was fortunate not to be sent off for a serious foul play challenge at the end of the first half on Thiago Alcantara, because it was late and high on the Liverpool midfielder.
But, as he was already on a yellow card, it was silly from Sanchez to slide in on Fabinho in that manner, leaving the referee with an easy decision.
Yes, the ex-Arsenal and Manchester United forward got the ball, but his follow-through caught the Reds midfielder.
"I'm not having it." ?
Was Alexis Sánchez unlucky to receive his marching orders for his second yellow card offence this evening? ?@rioferdy5 and @fara_williams47 believe so, @rach_brown1 not so much…#UCL pic.twitter.com/OCltrOR7ZR
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 8, 2022
Sanchez was correctly shown a second yellow for a reckless challenge by Spanish referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz.
In general, we saw some inconsistency from the referee on the night. In the first half he let the game flow and let a lot of physical challenges go.
In the second half, the game seemed to be getting a bit out of control, so he started clamping down and cautioning more challenges.
I think had he started by setting his stall out more clearly and being a bit less tolerant of those kinds of challenges in the first half, we wouldn’t have seen that influx of yellow cards that we saw in the second half.