Peter Schmeichel has called out Liverpool midfielder
Xherdan Shaqiri for childish behaviour after a row
broke out over the Switzerland captaincy.
The Liverpool star missed out of Switzerland’s Euro
2020 qualification double header last month against
Gibraltar and the Republic of Ireland after it was
claimed he’d fallen out with Swiss coach Vladimir
Petkovic’s decision to give the armband to Granit
Xhaka.
And the Arsenal man was asked for his thoughts on
the issue after his country’s 1-1 draw with Ireland in
Dublin, to which Xhaka replied: “If the captain’s
band really is the problem, then we can sit together
at one table. “We are grown up enough to talk
about it.
“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.”
And with the issue continuing to dominate much
debate in Switzerland ahead of the latest round of
international fixtures, Swiss paper Blick asked
United legend
Schmeichel for his thoughts on the matter.
“I liked the words of Granit Xhaka in the context of
Shaqiri’s absence,” he said.
“I read that the captain question played a role in
Shaqiri’s thinking.
“Although this has been denied in the meantime,
nevertheless I found it strong that Xhaka said: ‘If
Shaqiri wants to have the captain’s armband, he
should take it.’
“Xhaka showed that he wants to be a leader even
without ties – and gave the pressure to Shaqiri.
That was brilliant of him. In contrast to Shaqiri, who
behaved like a child.”
Despite criticising Shaqiri over the issue,
Schmeichel admits he is a big fan of the player,
though did question his decision to ever sign for
Stoke.
“He is a very good player, can dribble, shoot, has
fast feet,” Schmeichel commented.
“You can never say exactly what he does next,
which makes it very difficult for the opponent. But
he made a strange transfer to Stoke.
“He was brilliant at Basel, went to Bayern – great.
But then Stoke. Now he is with Jurgen Klopp [at
Liverpool ], he likes such players. But he is not one
of the 11 important ones.”
Young-po Reporters 