Xhaka: “I wear clothes to reach the final”

Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka, captain of the Swiss team that leaves for the Qatar 2022 World Cup this Monday, stressed in an interview that the team must aim to reach the final, now that many of its players are “performing decisive roles in the team majors of the best leagues”.

“We must have a vision and aim for the maximum,” Xhaka said in an interview with Swiss newspaper Blick, where he made sure he had “enough clothes to reach the final” in his suitcases just in case.

“We have made a lot of progress since I started playing with the national team 11 years ago,” said the captain of a team that last year sparked passions in his country after defeating world champions France in the Eurocup. and it was very difficult for Spain to pass the semifinals.

Xhaka, whose family hails from Kosovo, acknowledged some anxiety about Switzerland having to play a group match against Serbia, a country that imprisoned his father for three years in the 1980s.

“He is the last opponent I would choose, but I hope that in the match against the Serbs we already have two wins against Cameroon and Brazil,” said the 30-year-old midfielder, who was born in Basel after his family. moved to Switzerland in the 1990s. .

In the interview, Xhaka was full of praise for Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta, recalling that it was the Basque who convinced him to stay at the English club when he was going through a bad period with it and was considering leaving .

“I didn’t fully understand football until I was 27, and it was thanks to him. Mikel, an incredible person, made me rediscover the sport with the way of analyzing tactics and the opponent that makes you go out on the field thinking only. to win,” he said.