Chile manager Jorge Sampaoli admitted that he played Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez against Brazil even though he wasn’t fully fit.
Sanchez was inspirational as Chile claimed their first victory over Brazil in 15 years, scoring a late goal to secure a 2-0 win as his country began their World Cup qualifying campaign in style.
Sampaoli had warned earlier in the week that both the Arsenal star, who picked up a groin injury in his side’s 3-0 win over Manchester United last week, and Bayern Munich’s Arturo Vidal could miss the game but he chose to risk both.
In a post-match press conference the Chile coach confirmed: “Alexis arrived not at his top form, with pain in the adductor.
“He couldn’t play at 100% 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.”
Chile have another World Cup qualifier against Peru in Lima on Wednesday. Arsenal welcome Bayern Munich to the Emirates less than a week later.
