The statistics are there to be broken. And will try that Granite Xhaka within England-Switzerland this Saturday (6:00 pm, Merkul-Spiel-Arena). The Swiss captain, new Bundesliga and DKB Pokal champion – goal included in the final – with Bayer Leverkusen of Xabi Alonsohas never lost to the ‘pros’, whom he has faced a total of six times.
The first of them, more than 13 years ago: June 4, 2011, precisely the date on which the midfielder, at that time in the ranks of Basel, made his senior team debut. It was 2-2 with goals from Quiet Barnettaauthor of double, and Frank Lampard and Ashley Youngon the English side.
Since, Xhaka has chained five consecutive defeats against a country where he lived between 2016 and 2023, during his time as a player of Arsenal. In London, the Albanian-Kosovar Swiss player defended the ‘Gunner’ shirt 297 times, winning four titles – two FA Cups (2017 and 2020) and two Community Shields (2018 and 2021) – and becoming a must- required piece for Mikel Arteta in the process of rebuilding the team, runners-up in the last two editions of the Premier League.
The best Xhaka ever
Now, in the best moment of his career, Xhaka aims to close the circle with Xherdan Shaqiri, Yann Sommer, Fabian Schär, Remo Freuler either Ricardo Rodriguezmembers of the ‘Golden Generation’ of Switzerland. All of them, over 30 years old. “Age has no influence in football, it’s about quality. We all play from very young. That’s why we know each other’s good and bad sides. “It allows us to address things that might hurt us, but in the end it helps us all,” he said. Steven Zuberanother ‘rossocrociati’ classic.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
