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Euro Champ Qualifying | Group Stage

Sep 5, 2019 at 7.45pm UK

Rep. Ireland Republic of Ireland
1-1
Switzerland Switzerland

McGoldrick (85')

FT(HT: 0-0)

Schar (74')

Arsenal's Granit Xhaka offers Switzerland captaincy to Xherdan Shaqiri?

By Andrew Sinclair

Published: September 6 2019 | 23:34

Last updated: September 9 2019 | 19:11

Granit Xhaka is seemingly happy to offer the captaincy of the Switzerland team to Xherdan Shaqiri, who ruled himself out of the Swiss squad for this international break.

Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka has seemingly offered the captaincy of the Switzerland national team to Liverpool winger Xherdan Shaqiri.

The former Stoke wide player asked not to be selected for the country's European qualifiers during this international break, which began yesterday with a 1-1 draw against the Republic of Ireland.

Initial reports indicated that Shaqiri had asked to be omitted because he wanted to work on getting back to full fitness with Liverpool after missing much of pre-season thanks to the calf injury he picked up on international duty in June.

However, The Mirror claims that the 27-year-old was also reluctant to play because he felt he had been overlooked by coach Vladimir Petkovic for the captaincy.

Speaking after the game with Ireland, Arsenal's Xhaka appeared to indicate that he would be happy to hand over the armband to get the diminutive winger back in the side.

The former Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder said: "If he really has a problem about that [the captaincy], then he may like the captain's armband. That's no problem for me. It does not matter to me if I have it.

"I want to give everything to the team, whether that's with the band or without."

The Swiss side, who have taken five points from their opening three qualifiers, continue their campaign on Sunday with a home tie against Gibraltar.

Written by
Andrew Sinclair