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Peter Schmeichel criticises Liverpool’s Xherdan Shaqiri for ‘acting like a child’
Liverpool star Xherdan Shaqiri has come in for criticism from former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, who believes the player as acted like a child over the Switzerland captaincy.
It has been claimed Shaqiri missed the Euro 2020 qualifying matches against the Republic of Ireland and Gibraltar last month after manager Vladimir Petkovic decided to hand Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka the armband.
Shaqiri has not spoken about the apparent ‘issue’, but one man who has is Schmeichel, who has thrown his backing behind the Arsenal man.
ahead of the Denmark-Switzerland clash on Saturday: “I liked the words of Granit Xhaka in the context of Shaqiri’s absence. I read that the captain question played a role in Shaqiri’s thinking.
“Although this has been denied in the meantime, nevertheless I found it strong that Xhaka said: ‘If Shaqiri wants to have the captain’s armband, he should take it.’
“Xhaka showed that he wants to be a leader even without ties – and gave the pressure to Shaqiri. That was brilliant of him. In contrast to Shaqiri, who behaved like a child.”
Shaqiri will play not any part for his country in the next two games with the Danes and the Republic of Ireland, as he is still recovering from a calf injury.
TBR’s view
Schmeichel did go on to praise the 27-year-old for his ‘fast feet’, but it seems strange that he would knock the Anfield man when there is no hard evidence he is really upset by Petkovic’s decision.
Xhaka’s comments do suggest he didn’t even know Shaqiri was feeling any type of way.
There may or may not be a situation, but either way Schmeichel’s comments seem somewhat unfair.