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Xhaka sees World Cup hopes end against Portugal

Granit Xhaka in action for Switzerland against Portugal

Granit Xhaka saw his Switzerland side bow out of the 2022 World Cup after being beaten 6-1 by Portugal in the round of 16.

Before the game, hopes were high that the Swiss could reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 1954, but goals from Goncalo Ramos and Pepe gave Portugal a healthy lead at the break.

Within 10 minutes of the restart it was 4-0 as Ramos added his second before Raphael Guerreiro also got on in the act, and despite Manuel Akanji pulling one back, Ramos completed the first hat-trick of the finals before Rafael Leao rubbed salt into the wounds in stoppage time.

Speaking post-match to reporters, Granit said: “Of course, emotionally it is not easy. But this is part of our business, part of football. You have to recover well. The Premier League is waiting and, of course, I wanted to be here longer than this. But we lost the game today and I am happy to go back now with the team.

“I have something to achieve there, and I know the team is in Dubai at the moment doing the pre-season. I’m flying back to Dubai, going back to the team, and going back to the training and trying to forget the tournament now.”

Granit played every minute of Switzerland’s four games in Qatar, which saw them beat Cameroon before losing narrowly to Brazil. The highlight came via a thrilling 3-2 win over Serbia that saw them once again reach the knockout stages for the fourth tournament out of five, but once again a spot in the last eight proved to be elusive.

The skipper’s four appearances took his cap tally up to 111, just seven shy of Heinz Hermann's all-time national record of 118.

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