When Alexis Sánchez did leave Manchester United to join Antonio Conte's Inter Milan on a one-year loan deal in the last summer transfer window, many would have thought that the move might end up in tears for the Chilean.
However, it seems like Sánchez has already done enough to prove the doubters wrong. Inter climbed to the top of the table, beating AC Milan in the Milan Derby last Sunday with a thumping 4-2 scoreline. The match saw Inter scoring four back-to-back goals after falling 0-2 behind at the half-time.
Alexis Sánchez was one of the men in black and blue who played an integral part in their spirited comeback at San Siro. Although Zlatan Ibrahimović tried his best to lift the hope for the Milan side, the goals from Marcelo Brozović, Matias Vecino, Stefan de Vrij and Romelu Lukaku made the difference at the end of a thrilling 90 minutes of football.
How was Alexis Sánchez's performance in Milan derby?
In spite of knowing that Lautaro Martínez would miss the derby against AC Milan through suspension, many would have picked 17-year old Sebastiano Esposito over Alexis Sánchez to join Romelu Lukaku in the two-men offensive line.
However, Conte went with the experience and chose to field the ex-Arsenal player alongside Romelu Lukaku. In the first half, Inter's offensive power looked bland as Milan dominated the first forty-five minutes of the match.
In the second half, Sánchez proved to be the cause for Inter's second goal, just three minutes after Marcelo Brozović scored a stunner to pull one back. In the 53rd minute of the match, Sánchez received an outstanding line-breaking pass from Diego Godín and pushed it towards Matias Vecino, who racked up the equalizer for the home side.
Although he failed to put his name on the scoresheet, his all-around performance for the team deserve some credit. He delivered 5 crosses (2nd-most for Inter) inside the box and helped the team with his defensive attributes and massive work-rate.
To sum up his performance against their city rivals, a hug from the manager and several pats on the back when the 31-year-old veteran was brought off for Christian Eriksen in the 72nd-minute - were more than enough to understanf his worth.
Sánchez has been a gem for Inter Milan this season
One may argue over the title, but the fact is Alexis Sánchez has been one of Inter's best players since joining the Italian side on loan last summer and the statistics back him up.
We have heard criticism about his performances from both pundits and football devotees. However, all the arguments' talking points remain the same - how many goals and assists has Sanchez recorded this season?
If we take a look at his Serie A 2019-20 records, he has played 7 matches and has scored only 1 goal and provided only 1 assist which is not good enough. But we avoid how many matches he actually has played from the start.
The Chilean has made only 2 starts this season and has played only 181 minutes of football for The Nerazzurri in Serie A. Now what makes him better is his goals plus assists ratio per 90 minutes.Sánchez has an exceptional 0.99 G+A ratio which is certainly better than Victor Moses' 0.97 and club's top goalscorer Romelu Lukaku's 0.87.
Sánchez still has that spark and lethal attributes to help his team out from and there's plenty of gas left in him to again become one of the first names on the player sheet before a game.