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Liverpool have a ‘street footballer’ with the ‘X-factor’ in their ranks, Jurgen Klopp rarely plays him
Liverpool forward Xherdan Shaqiri has been praised by Switzerland’s media following his superb performance in his nation’s World Cup qualifier on Thursday.
The Reds attacker has struggled for game time under Jurgen Klopp this season, with just 18 appearances and five Premier League starts under his belt.
Admittedly, Shaqiri hasn’t exactly seized the opportunity – he played the full 90 minutes against Fulham but wasn’t much of a threat as Liverpool fell to a shock 1-0 defeat.
However, the 29-year-old was in inspired form on Thursday as Switzerland ran out 3-1 winners over Bulgaria.
Breel Embolo opened the scoring after just seven minutes, heading home from Ricardo Rodriguez’s delivery.
Haris Seferovic then fired past Plamen Iliev from close range three minutes later after being assisted by Shaqiri.
And Steven Zuber made it three on 13 minutes after slotting home from Shaqiri’s delivery.
The Liverpool forward struck the woodwork and delivered two key passes, two accurate crosses and three accurate long balls, according to .
gave him 8 out of 10 and wrote: “He didn’t score, he was by far not the first to press, he dropped off after half an hour, but he is still the X-factor for the Swiss team.
“It was him who created goals 2 and 3. Simply indispensable.”
Meanwhile, wrote: “Can Shaqiri help this national team if he plays so rarely for Liverpool? Yes he can. And he could probably do it even if he only ever trained on Merseyside.
“Because he just has that certain something. He is probably the last street footballer in Switzerland. Unpredictable. A man for those magical moments.
“He showed that once again in Bulgaria, a perfect assist to make it 2-0 by Seferovic. An action that can hardly be surpassed in terms of shrewdness to make it 3-0.
“With this yield one can easily overlook the fact that he rarely plays.”