contents
Is the captain threatened with a ban? Granit Xhaka takes on Serbia’s substitute with a definite gesture.
The Nati staff had repeatedly emphasized one thing before the decider against Serbia at the World Cup in Qatar: there will be no second Kaliningrad. As a reminder: At the 2018 World Cup, the players of Kosovar descent, Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, were provoked by the Serbian audience and let themselves be carried away by the “double-headed eagle” gesture.
At the revenge four and a half years later – and in front of a much smaller Serbian supporters – it took a long time for the waves to run high. After 65 minutes, for example, when Aleksandar Mitrovic was not awarded a penalty shot. And again, when the visibly provoked Xhaka received a warning in added time in a war of words, which at least for the moment was not serious.
But in the aftermath of the relatively fair game, a gesture became public that could still have an aftermath: In the scene described, in which the Serbs demanded a penalty, Xhaka provocatively grabbed his crotch in front of the Serbian bench and thus caused a pack to form .
The captain, who was named “Man of the Match”, was not available for an interview with SRF. However, he explained evasively at the media conference: “It was a game with many emotions, emotions are part of football for me. Overall it was fair enough. We wanted to focus on football. We managed to take the first step. We are very proud.”
Those were normal emotions, a game like that can’t be emotionless.
Coach Murat Yakin defended his captain: “I saw a granite who was totally focused on football and showed a strong performance. I saw the Serbian players who went over the line. (…) Those were normal emotions, such a game cannot be emotionless. But I don’t know exactly what happened.”
SRF expert Beni Huggel hopes that the gesture will have no consequences: “It was an unnecessary scene. The emotions are understandable, you shouldn’t judge him morally, that can happen.” But Huggel also emphasizes: “If it has consequences for him and the team, then that’s stupid.” It is not yet clear whether Fifa will initiate investigations. Affair a suivre…