“The suitcases were already packed, the passports were out, I was sure I was done with Arsenal.” It happened at the end of October 2019. Granit Xhaka, then the Gunners’ captain, was substituted against Crystal Palace after losing a double lead and the crowd reacted with scathing boos. The midfielder did not accept the fans’ claims, reacted nervously as he raised his hands in the air, threw the captain’s armband on the grass, took off his shirt and went directly to the dressing room.
It was a moment of crisis for the Swiss, who in the aftermath of the incident lost the captain’s armband and had already decided to leave. “I was shocked, I have never experienced anything like this. It was pure hatred that I would not wish on my greatest enemy,” he said three years after the incident.
About two months after that game, Mikel Arteta came to the club and the rest is history. Xhaka changed his image, became an important screw in the team that changed the club’s path, moved to star at Bayer Leverkusen and is now excelling in the Swiss uniform at Euro 2024. Tonight (Saturday) at 19:00 he will arrive as the captain of the team for the round of 16 against Italy, but even before that It’s time to tell about what he went through on the way to the status he reaches as the key player of his team against the winner of the last Euro.
Redemption in Arsenal – from the failure to the last survivor in the upheaval
Arteta’s arrival at the end of 2019 has changed a lot for Arsenal over the years, and the change could be seen most of all in Granit Xhaka. Already later that season he came out of the shock of the incident, and although the relationship with the fans continued to be shaky, the Swiss improved and became a significant part in winning the FA Cup – the team’s first title in the new era.
The revolution under the Spanish coach happened over three years and reached its peak in the 2022/23 season. This season there was almost no trace of the team that played before Arteta’s days, when from that game against Crystal Palace only one player remained who started in the team at the time and a significant player remains – this is Xhaka of course. The revolution was widespread, but the team survived it thanks to the cooperation with the coach who completely changed the nature of his game.
If for most of his career he played as a back midfielder, in that season the Swiss was converted and played as a type of free player, an ‘8’ midfielder on paper, but one who moves to high positions, creates many threats on the goal and causes a mess in the opponent’s defense. This change was perfect alongside Thomas Parte as a full-back, allowing him to get forward and flourish.
With seven goals and seven assists, Xhaka was one of the significant factors in the season that returned the Gunners to the championship fight after many years. From the player who was the face of the team’s failure and mediocrity, one who was mostly ridiculed for the many red cards he received, he became the last survivor of Mikel Arteta’s revolution. Despite losing the championship, he said goodbye to the fans in the Emirates in the final round with a double in 0:5 against Wolves, when this time he closed the circle with applause when he came off as a substitute and thanked the fans while he went down to the bench in tears.
The move to Leverkusen – dominance in the midfield on the way to a historic season
The new path he embarked on at the beginning of the last season was accompanied by going back. Xabi Alonso did not see Xhaka in the role he played for Arteta, but decided to use him as a ‘6’ midfielder who should control the game and manage it.
The German champions were among the most dominant teams in Europe in terms of possession of the ball and number of passes to the attack, and as such a team they needed a midfielder who would do two things – manage the game with few mistakes, and know how to push the team forward so that the passes would not be for nothing and the team would really reach the last third and be dangerous suppose.
That’s exactly what Xhaka did for Alonso. Although his numbers have dropped since last season at Arsenal, his role has become much more significant. The Swiss dominated everything that happened in his team last season and was one of the dominant players in the top European leagues when he finished second in the top 5 leagues in Europe in passes to the last third (370) and touches of the ball (3558). He knew how to promote the game with various passes, with the dribbling that promotes a game (finished fourth in the Bundesliga in the category) and gave his team uncompromising stability and leadership that helped them on their way to a historic championship and the end of an entire season in the league and the German Cup without a single loss.
All these things led to his selection in second place in the selection of the Bundesliga’s player of the season, after his teammate Florian Wirtz. He looks different today, more mature, more responsible, wise and confident, and he also admitted this himself when he said at the end of the season: “This season was an important challenge for me. Yes, success brings high self-confidence.”
The Swiss team – the politics against Serbia, the missed penalty and more
In international tournaments, Xhaka was always a significant player, and in many of them he was the man who received the most attention. He arrived at Euro 2016 as Arsenal’s new acquisition and showed high ability on the way to combining home games without a loss and qualifying for the eighth. Then came his tragic moment, when after 120 minutes and 1:1 the national teams went to a penalty shootout, the midfielder kicked the second kick, missed carelessly when the TV couldn’t even show where the ball went, and remained the only miss on the way to a painful relegation.
Two years have passed and the 2018 World Cup has arrived and with it – a storm. Switzerland was drawn against Serbia in the group stage, and as a son of Kosovar/Albanian parents, the Serbs are his family’s biggest enemies. Quite a few remember what happened next – Xhaka scored an equalizer against Serbia and caused a political uproar when he teased the celebration of the “double eagle” that represents the flag of Albania, Xherdan Shaqiri completed a turnaround in the 90th minute and celebrated in the same way, and the two received sympathetic reactions from the Kosovar public , and harsh reactions from the Serbs.
To understand what happened it is important to know the history. The Kosovo-Serbia war was difficult and was only stopped by NATO’s military intervention during which Granit Xhaka’s family suffered greatly when his father was imprisoned for three and a half years as a political prisoner in the 1980s. The painful past also affected his son who chose to take advantage of the position and express a clear position. For those who are interested, we wrote extensively on the subject in advance of the match between the teams at the 2022 World Cup. Switzerland ended the tournament with a 1:0 elimination against Sweden in the round of 16, but that moment against Serbia remains etched in the memory more than anything else.
At Euro 2020 (which took place in 2021), Xhaka once again arrived as one of the central figures in Switzerland, who, following a victory over Turkey in the closing round of the group stage, met France in the round of 16 for one of the most memorable games from the tournament. Kylian Mbappe and his teammates were favorites to win, but were left shocked as the Swiss came back from a double deficit to draw 3-3 with Xhaka playing superbly and even scoring the equalizer in the 90th minute en route to victory on penalties. Unfortunately for the captain, he received a yellow card that kept him out of the quarter-finals, where Switzerland were again close to a sensation, but were eliminated on penalties against Spain.
Euro 2024 – better than ever, more dominant than ever and ready to lead
After going through the whole journey we can come to the current Euros, where Granit Xhaka is a prominent candidate for selection as the player of the tournament after the group stage. The midfielder continued with the dominance he displayed at Bayer Leverkusen and brought her to a team that impressed and exceeded expectations.
The captain himself finished as man of the match twice out of three games, including against the mighty Germany where Switzerland missed out on a surprise win due to a dramatic equalizer from Niklas Polkrug towards the end. Although they did not achieve the victory, Murat Yakin’s team showed how strong it is. At 19:00 against Italy you will have to show that you can translate it into a historic achievement in the tournament.
And Jaka? He did not come to serve as a decoration for the winner of Euro 2020. He spoke after the group stage, and emphasized: “We did not reach the Euros by chance, we earned it. We want to be the main character in the show and give our fans a reason to be proud.”
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