Confident and sleek Switzerland remoulded in Granit Xhaka’s image

Former Arsenal player’s playmaking responsibilities will define his country’s fate against England

Over dinner and a few glasses of wine, Switzerland’s two leaders squared things up. It was late in the winter and things were purring along for Granit Xhaka at Bayer Leverkusen. They were already set fair for the Bundesliga title, thanks in large part to his endeavours since arriving from Arsenal, but the other side of the coin was murkier. The national team had qualified for Euro 2024 but their performances had dropped off a cliff. Xhaka had previously been critical of what he perceived as sloppy training sessions and there was an urgent need to find common ground with the manager, Murat Yakin, when the pair sat down for the latest of several earnest chats.

Now Switzerland are a win away from the European Championship semi-finals and a sleek, confident team have been remoulded firmly in Xhaka’s image. The captain is, Yakin says, “already a player-coach”. His influence is profound and it will be fundamental if the Nati are to dampen England’s new-found ripple of optimism. There could be an extra piquancy in masterminding victory over a country where he ultimately thrived but was, for long periods of his seven years in north London, not entirely understood.

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