The national team fails to beat England on penalties in the European Championship quarter-finals. After the bitter defeat, Xhaka, Shaqiri and Co. are disappointed.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Switzerland loses to England in the European Championship quarter-finals on penalties.
- After the game, Manuel Akanji, Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri are disappointed with the result, but proud of the Nati's performance.
- They also had words of praise for the numerous Swiss fans who had turned up.
"That's brutally tough. It's very difficult to find the right words now" - Granit Xhaka looks disappointed but composed after the bitter penalty defeat against England.
The national team captain, who reveals that he was on the pitch against England with a torn muscle fiber, immediately tries to draw out the positives. "A defeat like this hurts twice as much because we showed a lot of good things today. Whether it's fair or not doesn't matter after 120 minutes. But we can be very proud. Every one of us gave everything, on and off the pitch."
Unlucky Akanji had a little more trouble expressing his feelings in words. "When you're the only one to miss a penalty and then go out, you feel like you've let everyone down," he clarified after the penalty thriller. "We had the better chances to win the game today. We deserved to take the lead and had the chance to progress."
Xhaka doesn't want to say much about Akanji's missed penalty. On the contrary: the captain immediately defended the Swiss defender after the game. "In a penalty shoot-out, someone has to get it, today it was Manu. But when you see what he's achieved over the last few years and in this tournament, the penalty isn't very painful. I'm very proud of him."
Pride of the Swiss fans "always the biggest goal"
In addition to the players and coaching staff, the Swiss fans also played a big part in the success. Everyone in the national team camp seems to agree on this. "All the fans were there for every game. And those who couldn't make it supported us from Switzerland. We are incredibly grateful for that," says Akanji.
Xherdan Shaqiri echoes this sentiment: "You could see how much euphoria there was. How many people from Switzerland came and cheered us on. That spurs you on. You could see that we were up for it and gave everything for this country."
The pride of the Swiss fans was "always the biggest goal", added penalty taker Shaqiri. "We played a very good tournament. That will certainly be remembered. We're all proud and we can build on that for the next tournament."
And Xhaka: "What I've heard on social media, the euphoria in Switzerland is incredible. Many thanks to the fans. We wanted to put a smile on their faces today and make history. Unfortunately, we didn't manage that. But I can guarantee that we'll be back in two years' time and write our own history then."
