Xherdan Shaqiri and Marwin Hitz prevent a Basel embarrassment in the Cup against Nyon on Sunday. Coach Fabio Celestini explains after the game why Shaqiri once again didn't make the starting eleven.
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- Xherdan Shaqiri sends FC Basel through to the next round in the Cup. He scored the only goal of the game against Nyon in the 123rd minute.
- Marwin Hitz then holds on to the win with a penalty save.
- After the nail-biting victory, coach Fabio Celestini explained that he hadn't actually wanted Shaqiri to play.
Many FCB fans must have hoped that Shaqiri would be in the starting eleven against Nyon in the Cup for the first time since his return. But the crowd favorite had to be patient again and was only substituted in the 79th minute.
Shaqiri was unable to prevent FCB from having to go into extra time, but there he shot Basel into fortune. In the 3rd minute of stoppage time, he went down in the opponent's penalty area and confidently converted the penalty to make it 1-0.
Nevertheless, Basel had to tremble once more as Nyon were also awarded a penalty on the counter-attack. Franck Koré goes for it - and is denied by Marwin Hitz.
The FCB goalkeeper said in the SRF interview after the game: "We fought through, we overcame difficult situations and proved as a team that we can also hold our own in a so-called 'crap game'."
Celestini would have preferred to leave Shaqiri on the bench
The question arises as to why Shaqiri is once again only coming off the bench. Coach Fabio Celestini explained after the game: "He still feels a slight pain in his calf. We decided in a joint discussion in the morning that he would play a maximum of 15 minutes today." The coach would have preferred to do without Shaqiri altogether: "He wasn't feeling well. That's why we didn't really want to take any unnecessary risks."
Celestini wants to prevent extra time and believes that the magic cube, who retired from the national team after the European Championship (125 caps), can decide the game in normal time. The plan didn't work, and the score was still 0-0 after 90 minutes. "I told Shaq, now you just have to play 30 minutes more," said Celestini after the game.
Although Celestini is pleased to have made it through to the next round, he is not completely satisfied with his team's performance and, looking back at the first half, says: "They deserved to score one or two goals."
Ultimately, none of this matters in the Cup. Basel are through and Shaqiri had his first big moment after his return to FC Basel.
