Sweden aim to provoke Xhaka into red card

Granit Xhaka called it the “pre-match provocations” and, amid all the platitudes that form the usual prelude to a World Cup match, genuine needle was easy to detect in St Petersburg yesterday ahead of Switzerland’s last-16 tie against Sweden.

Xhaka (below) has already been fined SFR10,000 (£7,700) during this World Cup and warned for what was deemed an “unsporting” gesture after scoring against Serbia in the group phase and it seems clear that the Arsenal midfielder is now being targeted by Sweden. First there were comments from full-back Mikael Lustig in which the possibility of exploiting Xhaka’s poor disciplinary record was highlighted.

And then there were suggestions that a Swedish player, the Leeds defender Pontus Jansson, had been poking fun at Xhaka’s “Albanian eagle” cross-arms goal celebration during training yesterday.

Xhaka was sent off nine times for club and country between 2014 and 2017. “We have heard that he has received many red cards in the Premier League,” said Lustig. “We have to keep cool – and try to get him sent off the pitch.”

Striker John Guidetti added: “If he receives a booking early on, he will have to decide in each and every duel whether he will withdraw his legs.” Xhaka said: “It is part of the pre-match provocations. This is not my first match. I have learnt quite a few things in my playing life and I’m confident I won’t be squeezed out of the game. I sleep all right.” Vladimir Petkovic, the Switzerland coach, said that he had been unaware of the comments but described them as “funny”.

There was a more serious expression from Xhaka, though, when he was told by a journalist that Jansson had, while laughing, appeared to recreate the crossed arms salute that he and Xherdan Shaqiri were reprimanded over following the Serbia game.

The 25-year-old Arsenal midfielder ignored the question, refusing to answer, before the Fifa moderator interjected to say that “our guests have kindly requested that the questions remain focused on tomorrow’s match rather than this moment that passed 10 days ago”.

Xhaka’s family was forced to flee the Balkans after his father was jailed for campaigning for Kosovan independence and he said after the Serbia game that the gesture had been for “my people, in my homeland”.

It has certainly all brought an added edge to a match that will also decide England’s potential quarter-final opponents.