It was a day of mixed emotions for Granit Xhaka at Crystal Palace as he scored a screamer then conceded a late penalty.
Afterwards the Swiss midfielder spoke to the media, and this is what he told them about the performance at Selhurst Park:
on whether a draw was fair…
We can’t be happy if we are 2-1 ahead after being 1-0 down and then not winning. It was good in the second half and then we were unlucky with the penalty. I think we lost two points today.
on his view of the penalty…
It’s difficult. I think it’s a clear penalty because I touched his knee, so the referee gave a penalty.
on his goal…
I chose to shoot because the coach asked me why I didn’t take the corners or the free-kicks in the first half. I think it was the first free-kick of the second half, so I took it. I was happy that I could score, but we can’t be so happy after the game.
on that being why he celebrated with Unai…
Yeah, not only to say thank you. After he told me that I must take free-kicks and corners, I did it.
on whether this game is a reminder of how tough the Premier League is…
Of course. We know it’s always difficult to play at Palace. It was difficult a year ago. It’s football and we know we can’t win all the games. We tried our best and although it was not our best performance, one point here is alright and we’ll take the positive things from this game. We’ll look forward.
Copyright 2024 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
