Chile star Alexis Sanchez revealed a Uruguayan player apologized to him for nearly injuring him after Wednesday’s stormy Copa America quarter-final battle.
Holders Uruguay finished the game with nine men as they tumbled out of the tournament after losing 1-0 to the hosts.
Sanchez was at the center of one of the game’s flashpoints, when he was flattened by a rough challenge from Jorge Fucile in the dying minutes of the game.
Fucile received a second yellow card for the tackle and was dimissed, a decision which triggered a prolonged confrontation between players and officials from both sides.
Arsenal star Sanchez later told reporters one unnamed Uruguayan player had said sorry to him for the rough treatment he had been given during a bruising encounter.
“They like to fight, argue, go forward all out; one player told me in the first half ‘Move you wimp’ — but then later he said to me: ‘I am sorry’,” Sanchez said, without identifying the opponent in question.
.
“He said to me,’That’ll do, I kicked the shit out of you’. And I said, ‘Alright but you could have caused an injury and that’s not what football’s about,'” Sanchez said.
Chile now face either Bolivia or Peru in the semi-finals.
By AFP