Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has defended Alexis Sanchez after he was snapped laughing during defeat to Bayern Munich.

Cech stressed it was only a rueful smile from the Chilean star who was bitterly disappointed.

Cech said: “He was as sad as I have seen him.

“And unfortunately when you say, 'Had we scored the second goal everything could look different' and then you do 'ooph', people say you are laughing on the bench.

“I found it very disrespectful to the player.

“But obviously you can take the picture and you can interpret it the way you want unfortunately.

“We the players know exactly what he said and we know how he was as hurt as anybody else."