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.
“He’s the most important player in terms of tactics and leadership,” says Beni Huggel, the former Switzerland international who was a senior player at FC Basel when Xhaka broke through there. “He’s leading the team with so much experience: he knows how to manage the other players and support them, bringing them into the right position.”
England will encounter opponents set up in a 3-4-2-1 shape that sees Xhaka, expressive and insistent, dictating at the base of midfield. He shifts Switzerland up and down the gears and it says plenty that his form at Leverkusen, whose system is near-identical, was what persuaded Yakin to move from the back four he had deployed for most of qualifying. Xhaka was convinced a change in system would bring out the best in him and his teammates; Yakin made the switch in November and after initial teething problems has been rewarded handsomely.
During those rollercoaster seasons at Arsenal it became fashionable to examine what Xhaka could not do. For one thing he found it difficult to keep his cool, his reaction to a section of supporters upon being substituted against Crystal Palace in 2019 threatening to be a moment that would define him. Even in his final campaign, when he cut loose as an expressive force and fittingly signed off with two goals, the wisdom was that they needed a different kind of midfielder in the form of Declan Rice.
On Saturday the pair will face each other for the first time since occupying different slots in Arsenal’s revolving door. It is unlikely a blade of grass will remain untouched: Rice sits third in the chart for distance covered during this tournament with 49.2km, while Xhaka is close at hand in sixth place at 46.6km. His figure is especially eye-catching given continuing struggles with an adductor injury that has required him to train alone at times.
Rice is not expected to set England’s tempo with passes, angles, fine lines. But in Xhaka’s case the hard running comes with a playmaking responsibility that will define Switzerland’s fate. In their group stage draw against Scotland, Scott McTominay was largely able to nullify his impact on the ball. It was a similar tale when Atalanta’s Teun Koopmeiners and Ederson snuffed him out in the Europa League final, meaning Leverkusen could not function and lost for the only time last season.
A floppy Italy could not handle his string-pulling or the drive of his sidekick Remo Freuler in Berlin though. It will fall on Rice to perform the smothering job this time. Rice was deemed an upgrade at Arsenal because of his ability to lock a midfield down and, directly up against the player he effectively replaced, he will have to produce on the continent’s biggest stage.
“He takes responsibility,” Huggel says of Xhaka. “He’s not shy, or hiding himself when the pressure comes. He’s really a leader.” Those impassioned conversations with Yakin came because Xhaka, heart consistently emblazoned on sleeve, cared deeply. He was also aware of his own standing in the team and the lessons he had taken from managers such as Mikel Arteta and Xabi Alonso. Xhaka wanted to improve the Swiss setup’s professionalism with a deeper support staff of nutritionists and physios. He also boosted the influence of Manuel Akanji, the Manchester City centre-back, who has thrived in the three-man backline while growing in stature behind the scenes.
Huggel thinks Xhaka’s stunning season at Leverkusen has added to his sense of assurance. “He learned a lot of things: how to win trophies,” he says. “You take a lot of self-confidence from a decent amount of success.” Xhaka has not been sent off since January 2022; perhaps just as tellingly, a study released by the Swiss-based CIES football observatory deemed him to have had a greater impact on his club team last season than any player in the world’s top 54 leagues bar Rodri. During his time at Arsenal someone else was always the leading man, or supposed to be. At 31 he has become a player who can shoulder expectations while transforming them too.
“Everyone saw he had a great mindset for success,” Huggel says of Xhaka’s early years at Basel. Xhaka has praised Alonso, in particular, for helping him take the next step. A future move into coaching appears likely: he is taking his Uefa A licence, coaching at the local club Union Nettetal and spent a few days in London continuing the course after the Europa League final.
Yakin, once thought to be hanging on to his job by a thread, stands on the brink of a historic achievement. He has proved receptive to change and open to embracing Xhaka’s irrepressible nature. Xhaka is, according to Huggel, a player with “10 out of 10” importance to Switzerland. England may see the fruit of those midseason discussions up close in Düsseldorf.
Additional reporting by Lukáš Vráblik
