Granit Xhaka gave his Man-of-the-Match award to Switzerland manager Vladimir Petkovic during the press conference after winning the game against France.
In an extremely eventful match, Haris Seferovic put the Swiss ahead in the first half at Bucharest but a quickfire double from Karim Benzema and a Paul Pogba stunner meant that France were 3-1 up with 15 minutes to go.
Switzerland came back with goals from Seferovic and Mario Gavranovic as the match ended 3-3 in normal time. A goalless extra time led to a riveting penalty shootout between the two sides as the Red Crosses clinched the game after Yan Sommer blocked Kylian Mbappe’s strike from the spot.
Captain Granit Xhaka played a massive part in securing the result. No other player on the pitch completed more passes than Xhaka who made 81 passes at an accuracy of 93%. Xhaka also made three key passes and created four chances – one of which ended up as a very important assist.
Xhaka was awarded the man of the match award for his incredible performance, and he will hope to push an inspired Swiss side to more success when they face off with Spain in their EURO 2020 quarter-final tie next week.
Though, it seems, the Arsenal midfielder reckoned it was another member of the staff, manager Vladimir Petkovic, who deserved the MOTM trophy more than him as he made a class gesture towards his boss during the post-match press conference.
“This is for you, coach”
— Hayters TV (@HaytersTV) June 28, 2021
Granit Xhaka gave his Man-of-the-Match award to manager Vladimir Petkovic ❤️#SUI pic.twitter.com/00sbc5ZNyb
