SWISS LAUNCH SHAQ ATTACK

COCKY Xherdan Shaqiri is confident Switzerland will beat Northern Ireland in their World Cup shoot-out because they are better.

Shaqiri believes the Swiss can get a result in tonight’s play-off first leg at Windsor Park before finishing the job in Sunday’s return in Basel. “The most important thing is to qualify for the World Cup and I am confident that if we play good, we will do that,” said the Stoke star (left).

“We are going to Northern Ireland first and will try to take something back for when we play at home.

“They will be two tough games and they were in a tough qualifying group with Germany and the Czech Republic, but we have the quality and I think we are the better team.”

Shaqiri, 26, claims Switzerland were unlucky not to reach Russia automatically as group winners after they won their first nine qualifiers.

They agonisingly lost to Portugal in their final game to finish second to Cristiano Ronaldo and Co on goal difference.