These were scenes that will forever be remembered in Swiss football history. The Alpnation sensationally came back from a 1-3 defeat with ten minutes left to play and then beat the gold favorite France on penalties at the National Stadium in Bucharest.
Afterwards, it was mainly Granit Xhaka that was in the center. The midfielder played beautifully forward Mario Gavranovic to the equalizer in overtime and appeared before the penalty shootout mana on his teammates, who surrounded him in a large circle, with a passionate fire speech.
– It was an incredible feeling, Xhaka said according to the newspaper Blick after the victory.
– Every Swiss can be proud. It was France we beat, not an ordinary team. Everyone must be aware of that. So much has been written about our team being arrogant, but today we are shutting up.
Xhaka does not have one completely uncontroversial past in his club team Arsenal where he after mixed performances among other things swore openly to his own home crowd when he was booed by the club’s supporters at the Emirates Stadium.
That the 28-year-old from time to time has difficulty guarding his tongue was something he had to blame for even against France. In a moment of frustration, shortly after Paul Pogba’s beautiful 3-1 goal, Xhaka was warned of a comment he made against Argentine referee Fernando Rapallini. The yellow card means that he is now suspended in Friday’s quarter final where a new football giant awaits: Spain.
A heavy break, states national team captain Vladimir Petkovic, but there are capable replacements. Not least in Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder Denis Zakaria.
– Xhaka is a very important player, but we have others who are good. We will not change much. I have an idea that must be confirmed during training and after a night’s sleep, I will announce it to the team tomorrow, Petkovic says at Thursday’s press conference.
– We are a team that works well together. There is one that is missing but we are optimistic.
In Xhaka’s place, Liverpool star Xherdan Shaqiri will wear the captain’s tie against Spain, which according to Petkovic is a clear favorite in the quarterfinals.
– We have been satisfied for two days. Now we have to be hungry again to get further. We are not happy to have come here – we want to move on.
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