World Cup not the time to talk about Albania issue, says Switzerland's Behrami

Valon Behrami wants the focus to be on Switzerland's game with Costa Rica, and not the Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka celebrations.

Published : Jun 26, 2018 21:52 IST

Switzerland midfielder Valon Behrami says the World Cup is not an appropriate time or place to discuss the wider issues around the team's controversial celebrations against Serbia.

Vladimir Petkovic's side meet Costa Rica in Nizhny Novgorod on Wednesday knowing that a win will be enough to guarantee its place in the last 16.

Much of the pre-match talk has centred on fines issued to Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka by FIFA, after they celebrated goals in the 2-1 victory over Serbia by apparently referencing the Albanian flag.

FULL COVERAGE: FIFA WORLD CUP

The 'eagle' gestures were viewed as deliberately provocative towards its opponents, particularly since many of Switzerland's players, including Shaqiri, have family ties to the state of Kosovo that is not officially recognised by the Serbian government.

Behrami, who is one of those players of Kosovan descent, is happy FIFA did not choose to issue suspensions to his teammates, but insists that the issue "goes a little bit deeper" than can be talked about during the tournament.

"We talked maybe the next day, there was some joking around [in the squad]. We're happy nobody is suspended but it's something that goes a little bit deeper," he told a news conference.

READ: No worries for Tite and Brazil over Neymar's mental state

"It's not appropriate to spend the time [talking] now. It won't happen in the future because it won't be a special game like this. Maybe it will happen at a club, but not at the World Cup. It's case closed. If you want to talk a lot about this, it's not the time."

Head coach Petkovic felt that the celebrations were partly influenced by the "emotions" of football, but wants his players to focus on keeping their World Cup campaign alive.

"What's important is we play football together. We depend on football and the emotions of football, it's an emotional game and it has to be," he said.

"What has happened, happens, basically. We have to be aware of these things and learn from them. Let us also focus on the remainder of the tournament, on football, a beautiful game that brings together people. We should be happy to be involved in a great festival of sport."

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment