Robert Pires has told beIN SPORTS that Arsene Wenger dropped Alexis Sanchez for Arsenal's 3-1 Premier League defeat against Liverpool on Saturday as a punishment for a training ground incident.
Following the game at Anfield, Wenger said Sanchez had started the game on the bench as he had wanted to play a more direct style ill-suited to the former Barcelona forward. It was widely reported, however, that Sanchez had been sanctioned for his attitude on the training ground and following a row with Wenger.
Pires, who played for Arsenal between 2000 and 2006 and still regularly trains with the first team despite having retired from competitive football in 2015, told a different version of events.
"I want to be clear regarding the English media," he said ahead of Arsenal's Champions League round-of-16 second-leg defeat to Bayern Munich, for which Sanchez returned to the team. "There was no fight or brawl as was written. I was there. I was at the training session and in the dressing room afterwards. Yes, there was an argument on the pitch, a bad tackle on Alexis Sanchez. He decided to leave the pitch, something that he shouldn't have done.
"After that, certain players, among them Laurent Koscielny because he's the captain, went to talk. But it was a verbal exchange, there were only words. They didn't come to blows, because they are adults. They're professionals and in the same boat.
"Unfortunately, Arsene Wenger took a decision to punish Sanchez for his behaviour by leaving him on the bench against Liverpool. Unfortunately, it didn't go well. The fans need to understand that if there was that, it's because something happened. Not something serious, but it was a punishment, quite simply."