XHERDAN SHAQIRI WILL not be available for his country’s Euro 2020 qualifier away to Ireland, it has been confirmed.
A statement from the Swiss federation today confirmed the Liverpool star would be absent for the 5 September clash at the Aviva Stadium.
The 27-year-old attacker will also miss his country’s upcoming qualifier with Gibraltar.
“Xherdan Shaqiri, who has decided to concentrate fully on his club, will not be available,” a statement from the federation read.
Norwich pair Josip Drmic and Timm Klose, in addition to Steven Zuber of VfB Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Djibril Sow also miss out due to injury.
Stephan Lichtsteiner (FC Augsburg) and Michael Lang (Werder Bremen) are also unavailable, though Admir Mehmedi (Wolfsburg) and Breel Embolo (Borussia Mönchengladbach) make the cut, having missed the recent Nations League semi-final with Portugal.
Shaqiri, who has 82 caps for Switzerland, has been on the periphery of the Liverpool team in recent times, with a late cameo in the Community Shield his only appearance of the season so far.
“Is he the happiest player in the squad at the moment? I don’t think so. Can I see that on the training pitch? No,” Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp told reporters ahead of this weekend’s clash with Burnley.
“He is in a good mood and training hard, doing what he has to do and is ready for the moment when he has to help the team on the pitch.
In training, Shaq doesn’t have to improve in any way if he can keep the level he is doing at the moment. It’s not about that.
“Of course he can improve, everybody can improve, but he doesn’t have to show anything special. And we will need him. He knows that 100%.”
Ireland named their squad for the fixture on Thursday, with Shane Long and Robbie Brady among the players to miss out.
Unser Aufgebot für die Spiele gegen Irland und Gibraltar
— nationalteams_SFVASF (@SFV_ASF) August 30, 2019
Voici notre sélection pour les matches contre l'Irlande et Gibraltar
Ecco i nostri convocati per le partite contro l'Irlanda e Gibilterra
🎫 Achète ton billet pour le match à Sion sur https://t.co/bn2xFql5fQ ! pic.twitter.com/x58t0LG81Z
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