Liverpool leaves Xherdan Shaqiri at home. The Swiss midfielder has not been called up for tomorrow's match in Belgrade for fear of possible tensions related to his Albanian origins. This was announced today by Jurgen Klopp at the press conference.
"We have heard and read speculations about the kind of reception that Shaqiri could receive and even if we have no idea what might happen, we want to go there and focus 100% on football and not think about anything else. We want to avoid any distractions that can distract us from a match that is important only and exclusively from a footballing point of view".
Shaqiri accepts and understands the situation according to the coach: "He is a player that we love and will play many games for us, but not Tuesday". The Swiss's recent past will not allow for a sports reception. During the last World Cup he was fined by FIFA for having celebrated the goal against Serbia by mimicking the two-headed eagle, the symbol of the Albanian flag. Hence the decision to leave him in England to avoid further tensions is rightly just.
