Alexis Sanchez’s injury gamble paid off here Tuesday as the Arsenal striker scored twice to help Chile defeat bitter rivals Uruguay 3-1 in their World Cup qualifier.
Sanchez had risked the wrath of Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger after playing in the Santiago showdown despite injuring a hamstring during training last week.
Wenger had expressed fear Chile had made a “suicidal” decision by playing Sanchez against the Uruguayans after the injury.
But the in-form striker showed no sign of ill-health with two second-half goals to seal Chile’s comeback victory after Edinson Cavani had given Uruguay an early lead at the Estadio Nacional.
Uruguay looked to be heading into half-time 1-0 up but in stoppage time, Chile mounted their best attack of the half.
Sanchez released Jean Beausejour down the left flank and the former Wigan winger’s cross found Eduardo Vargas who headed past Fernando Muslera for 1-1.
Chile came out for the second half clearly buoyed by the goal and on 60 minutes Sanchez struck.
The Arsenal forward spun away from Matias Vecino with ease on the edge of the area before getting his shot away.
Sanchez’s effort was struck firmly but poor goalkeeping from Muslera allowed the shot to squirt into the net at the near post.
In the 76th minute, Sanchez then darted onto a long ball from Marcelo Diaz to make it 3-1.
In the closing stages Bravo denied Uruguay a lifeline when he saved a Suarez penalty.
Elsewhere, Ecuador romped to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Venezuela to reignite their 2018 World Cup qualifying challenge as Paraguay’s bid suffered a setback with a defeat to struggling Bolivia.
Ecuador, who had taken only a point from their previous two games, proved too strong for a Venezuela side buoyed by a 5-0 win over Bolivia last week.
