Fed-Up Chileans Organize March To Convince Alexis Sánchez To Leave Arsenal

Alexis Sánchez, the pride of Chile, is one of the best soccer players on the planet. He’s also trapped on a bullshit team that kind of sucks, where—amazing goals and dribbles and passes be damned—he’ll probably never win anything of major consequence. To top it off, his bullshit team is balking at paying him superstar money even though he’s an unquestioned superstar. Fans of Sánchez in Chile, where he remains an object of worship (and intense obsession), are sick and tired of it.

Hence the newly created Facebook group “Marcha Nacional para que Alexis Sanchez deje el Arsenal,” or “National March so that Alexis Sánchez Leaves Arsenal.” The mission is clear from the name, but here’s their statement of grievances:

We Chileans are tired of seeing one of our stars tirelessly working alone just to get his team to barely move, react. We don’t want him to play in Madrid, nor that he returns to Barcelona. Truth is, we don’t care what team it is, as long as we can see him fighting with 10 other players to achieve something. No longer alone.

The event is set to be held on March 1st in Santiago at the Plaza Baquedano, the same site where Chileans have so often congregated by the thousands to celebrate Sánchez’s and the rest of his compatriots on the national team’s big wins.

Who knows if this thing will actually be A Thing, though the group does have 7,400 guests who’ve pledged their attendance, with another 8,000 saying they’re interested. Regardless of whether the march actually happens as imagined, though, the sentiment that Sánchez needs to leave in order to truly thrive is obviously shared by many. The Free Alexis movement is real.

h/t Hans