This morning, Switzerland defeated reigning European champions Italy 2-0. After the game, Swiss captain Granit Xhaka was praised for his outstanding performance. One of the most interesting comments was that since leaving Arsenal, Xhaka has become a “winner”. He has only lost two games out of 64 with both his club and country!
On July 6, 2023, Xhaka transferred from Arsenal to Bayer Leverkusen for a fee of €15 million. Since then, he has made 50 appearances for Leverkusen (33 Bundesliga, 11 Europa League, and 6 DFB-Pokal). Xhaka has contributed 4 goals and 2 assists in these 50 games. Leverkusen has been undefeated in 49 of those games, with only a single loss in the Europa League final against Atalanta.
Since July 6, 2023, Xhaka has played 14 international matches for Switzerland (6 European Championship qualifiers, 4 friendlies, and 4 European Championship matches). He has won 5 matches, drawn 8, and lost only 1, making it an unbeaten streak of 13 games. The only loss was a 0-1 defeat to Romania in the last round of European Championship qualifiers on November 21, 2023. But even that loss was understandable because Switzerland had already secured their place in the European Championship finals.
Of course, Xhaka is not just along for the ride with Leverkusen and Switzerland. His individual performance has also been outstanding. In this morning’s game against Italy, for example, he had 101 touches, a 100% aerial duel success rate, 94 successful passes out of 98 attempted, 4 tackles, 3 chances created, and 1 crucial clearance. European media gave him high marks and praised his “masterful performance”.
This period of success has brought Xhaka a lot of personal rewards. After many years at Arsenal, he only had two trophies to his name: the FA Cup and the Community Shield. Since joining Leverkusen, he has won his first major league title, been named to the Bundesliga and Europa League teams of the year, and was awarded Swiss Footballer of the Year in 2023. As captain of the national team, he led Switzerland to match their best ever performance in the European Championship (Switzerland has participated in the European Championship five times and reached the quarter-finals in 2020). If he can take Switzerland one step further, he will create history for Swiss football.
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