It was a game of frustration for the two Arsenal stars involved in the international friendly between Brazil and Chile at the Emirates stadium today but for very different reasons.
Alexis Sanchez started for Chile and was the best player on the pitch for either team. Right from the first minute the Gunner was chasing down and harrying the Brazilians and he often came away with the ball and sprung into attack. Unfortunately for the 26-year old striker, his efforts were not quite matched by his team mates and they did not lead to a goal either.
As it was a friendly the referee was lenient because Brazil would have had a lot more yellow cards and probably at least one red for the constant fouling of Alexis and others that stopped Chile from building and sustaining momentum. Alexis definitely did not deserve to be on the losing side but Brazil substitute Firmino scored with a rare incisive move and that was the only goal.
The frustration for the new Arsenal centre back Gabriel was that he did not get onto the pitch for his international debut. It was only his first call up though, but with six subs allowed Gabriel must have hoped for at least a cameo appearance. Perhaps the tightness of the game stopped the manager Dunga from changing things in central defence but neither Miranda or Thiago Silva had a particularly good game, with Miranda lucky not to concede a penalty.
So frustration for them but some good news for Arsenal as they will now have almost a week off and should be fit and fresh for Liverpool on Saturday.