‘We are adults’ – Xhaka plays down rift with Switzerland coach
Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka is now on good terms with manager Murat Yakin, he said on Friday, playing down reports of rows over strategy during a poor qualifying campaign marred by late blunders.
Switzerland face dark horses Hungary in their opening Group A match in Cologne on Saturday, needing a strong showing to dispel fears their impressive record of reaching the tournament’s knockout rounds could come to an abrupt end.
Switzerland sneaked into Euro 2024 second in their group after a campaign in which they beat only Andorra in their last eight matches and squandered leads late to opponents including Israel and Kosovo.
The results led to reports of tension between Yakin and his players and calls from fans for him to be fired.
“We are adults enough to clarify everything. So I’ve had a great relationship with the coach in the last six, eight months. It has been better than the past,” Xhaka told a press conference.
“He came to see me many times … We had dinner together. We’ve drank a lot of wine together. So everything is going fine. We are both ambitious and we want to be successful for ourselves and for the team.
“We are glad to have a coach listening to us who wants to talk to us,” Xhaka added.
