Granit Xhaka‘s Switzerland side were eliminated by Spain on penalties this evening, with the Arsenal midfielder’s absence possibly hampering his side’s bid to stay in the competition.
Xhaka got himself a yellow card when his side were 3-1 down and headed out against France, only for him to play a key role in helping his side to force the match to go to extra time, but that yellow meant that he was banned for today’s encounter.
Xhaka came out onto the pitch to give a pep talk ahead of Switzerland’s penalty shootout, but he wasn’t able to inspire another victory unfortunately.
Commiserations, Granit 🔴#SUI | #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/u4O0KoEbBo
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 2, 2021
You certainly can’t label any blame on the midfielder, especially after his performance in helping his side to each the last eight, but you can’t help but wonder if his side could have overcome Spain with him in the team.
Patrick
Patrick, with Granit in the team, his country knocked out France…. so why do you suggest that they would not have been able to knock out Spain with him in the team?
His presence in that French game was enormous and most pundits agreed he was MOTM – and we read how the legend that is Wrighty was demanding we do not contemplate selling him, at least not for the paultry 20,000,000 euros Roma are offering.
these days fans want big name and big tag players
a player can top the stats, get into the team of the year, put on top performances but still not good enough for the fans, still will be considered deadwood by fans
Slightly off-topic but felt the Swiss deserved to go through. Either way Spain are getting thrashed by Italy unfortunately because I think England perfectly nullify the only good parts of Spain, Italy will be a game.
That was possibly the worst penalty shoot out I’ve ever seen. Spain are a shadow of what they were 5-10 years ago. Despite being much improved under Arteta and good for his country, Xhaka is always a massive yellow/red card risk because he just can’t help making really bad tackles and indulging in dirty agressive fouls that will always lead to trouble.
Xhaka or No Xhaka, It’s clear to see that there was a conspiracy to get Spain through to the semifinals. That red card incident wasn’t shown more than once in television replays. And the referee didn’t care to check with the pitch side screen before giving his marching orders. The team with more players who ply their trade with clubs who were part of the failed European Super League bid was preordained to progress in the tournament.