SWITZERLAND HAVE played down the absence of some notable players ahead of their Euro 2020 qualifier against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Thursday evening.
Liverpool’s Xherdan Shaqiri has withdrawn from the squad, while former Juventus defender Stephan Lichtsteiner — who has earned over 100 caps for his country — is also unavailable.
Norwich duo Josip Drmic and Timm Klose, in addition to Steven Zuber of VfB Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Djibril Sow are among the other players missing.
While much of the pre-match focus has surrounded the Liverpool star, Swiss head coach Vladimir Petković suggested the absence of others was just as significant.
“It’s not only Shaqiri missing, there are also other players, like Zuber, like Drmic who are not here,” he said. “But we have shown in the past that we can handle that and win without important players.
“We have a style of play which doesn’t depend on one single player. We have shown in the past several times that we can replace missing players.
There is no anxiety because Shaqiri is missing. We are used to replacing missing players, even Shaqiri.
“Since the draw, we have known that this was one of the key games in this qualification, but it won’t be decisive.
“We want to take all three points, because the table will look a little bit better afterwards.”
Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka also believes his team won’t be unduly affected by the absence of the aforementioned players.
“These players are missing, but we have other players who can compensate for their absence. We know we can win games without these players.
“This Irish team is physically quite strong, but we will find a solution to combat that.”
Also in attendance at today’s press conference was Fabian Schär and he was asked whether it was a relief to be with the national team after a difficult start to the season at Newcastle.
It’s like always: I’m really happy to be here with the national team. The start of the season has been quite hard for us at Newcastle, but also with a few good results in the last two weeks.
“But like always, I’m happy to be at Newcastle and always happy to come to the national team.”
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