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LONDON. — Manchester United travel to Barcelona tonight needing another miraculous Champions League football fightback from a 1-0 first-leg defeat on home soil to make the semi-finals.
The match kicks-off at 9pm.
The return of the club’s highest earner from a six-week injury lay-off to make the voyage to Catalonia in such circumstances should be a source of inspiration. However, it is symptomatic of Alexis Sanchez’s decline in 16 months at United that the Chilean makes his comeback behind Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s pecking order.
Sanchez signed reportedly the most lucrative contract in Premier League history when joining from Arsenal last January, earning close to £400 000 a week plus a series of bonuses.
Unfortunately for the Red Devils, there has not been much cause for bonus payments as Sanchez has scored just five goals in 41 appearances for the club and only twice so far in his first full season at Old Trafford.
Sanchez left Barcelona for the Premier League in 2014 in search of a more prominent role after being squeezed out by the arrival of Neymar at the Camp Nou and with Luis Suarez soon to complete a fearsome front three alongside Lionel Messi.
Now into their thirties, Suarez and Messi still pose Barca’s biggest threats, combining for 66 goals this season.
By contrast, a hard-running style and years of grind for club and country seem to have burnt Sanchez out, having just turned 30 in December.
In four consecutive summers between 2014 and 2017, he helped Chile reach the last 16 of the World Cup, win two Copa America titles in two years and then make the final of the Confederations Cup.
So durable for much of his career, Sanchez’s time at United has been permeated not only by poor performances, but a series of injuries. — AFP.
Online Reporter