Chilean newspaper El Mercurio brings today a special story about the Champions League, reporting what the national team players have ahead of them in the European tournament.
Although Chile’s big star is currently Barcelona’s Arturo Vidal, Manchester United attacker Alexis Sanchez also gets some decent attention from the article.
El Mercurio considers the Champions League to be a chance for Sanchez to finally succeed for the Red Devils. They recall that the player has only three goals in 22 matches for the club, which has been attracting ‘criticism from the English press’.
The newspaper interviewed José Sulantay, who was Chile’s coach in the U-20 World Cup in 2007, when Sanchez was one of the country’s rising stars.
Funny thing is that Sulantay didn’t show a lot of optimism about the player’s future at Manchester United, especially because he doesn’t seem like a big fan of José Mourinho.
“Of course, the Champions League is an extra motivational factor for any footballer”, Sulantay told El Mercurio. “But Alexis’ present, I don’t know if it will be fixed just because a great league comes: I notice him unbalanced and quite negative.”
“It will cost him to resume his great level if he continues like this. And well, there’s little help from Jose Mourinho’s defensive game, which is based on long balls, skipping the sector where he plays. That should despair him. Hopefully the picture improves.”