Albanian national football team marked their first appearance in the European Championships with a defeat in a group A match against Switzerland , a game which saw two brothers line up against each other.
New Arsenal signing Granit Xhaka was the standout performer, bettering his opposing brother, as Vladimir Petkovic’s side moved level on points with France in Group A
Fabian Schar’s early goal proved decisive as Switzerland edged out 10 man Albania at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis in Lens.
Albanian goalkeeper stormed off his line in an attempt to catch Xherdan Shaqiri’s corer but came nowhere close to the ball, embarrassing himself in the process and allowing Schar to head home in the fifth minute of the game.
It was a night to forget for Albanian Captain Lorik Cana who got sent off after a second yellow for a handball on the edge of the penalty box and only the post saved the Albanians from further misery from the resulting set piece.
Despite being a man down, Albania pushed hard for an equalizer and goalkeeper Berisha made amends for his earlier mistake by making a string of saves.
It was a closely contested first half and the major talking points being Cana’s red card and the mistake by Albanian Goalkeeper.
Taulant Xhaka made history tonight as he lined up against his brother and he made no attempts to hide his anger after he was substituted in the 62nd minute.
There was no changes in the scoreline, however substitute Shkelzen Gashi wasted a glorious chance in the 87th minute to equalize ut Sommer charged out to deflect his effort over and assure Switzerland of three points.
It was a decent result for Switzerland going level on points with France , while Albania will need to lift themselves up in the next game against France in Marseille.
Granit Xhaka performance proved that Arsene Wenger may have finally found a midfielder Arsenal lacked for the past couple of years.
