Bundesliga
Xhaka before EM: “Hope we leave our tongues in it”
Leverkusen’s Granit Xhaka is looking forward to the European Championships in Germany. photo
© Carmen Jaspersen/dpa
Granit Xhaka is currently riding high with Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen. And that as a leader. That’s why there is a lot of respect for him in Germany before the European Championships. But vice versa too.
Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka is happy to be Germany’s group opponent at the 2024 European Championship.
“We’re looking forward to playing against Germany, against the hosts,” said the Swiss, who plays with some DFB players for the Bundesliga leaders: “There were already a few saying things in the dressing room. This is a great group. ” The DFB team is “a dangerous team with a lot of quality. Hopefully it will be a good European Championship, first for us Swiss – and then maybe for Germany too.”
After the draw, DFB sports director Rudi Völler ennobled Xhaka as a “chieftain, not for Switzerland, but also in Leverkusen” and as a “key figure” for Leverkusen’s high flight this season. “When Rudi Völler says something like that, it makes you proud,” replied Xhaka. But the recognition for him is “definitely higher in Germany than in Switzerland. I’m criticized a little more there than here.”
Looking forward to the games in the Rhineland
The fact that Switzerland is playing the first two group games against Hungary and Scotland in Cologne brings back memories for the Swiss of the 2006 World Cup round of 16 against Ukraine in the same stadium. After a 0-0 draw after a weak 120 minutes, all three Swiss failed in the penalty shootout.
Xhaka especially remembers that the first shooter, Marco Streller, nervously played with his tongue before his penalty: “That was the tongue thing, right? I hope that we get the points this time. And that we leave the tongue in. ”
He is already looking forward to the games in the Rhineland. “The journey isn’t that long. But it’s nice that we’re playing against Germany in Frankfurt. It’s closer to Switzerland. Hopefully a lot of Swiss will come there too.”