Sporting Life
Xherdan Shaqiri scores for Switzerland against Serbia at the World Cup
Xherdan Shaqiri scores for Switzerland against Serbia at the World Cup

Serbia 1-2 Switzerland: Late Shaqiri goal gives Swiss dramatic late victory

21:23 · FRI June 22, 2018

Xherdan Shaqiri scored in stoppage time to give Switzerland a dramatic win over Serbia and put themselves in the driving seat for qualification.

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Aleksandar Mitrovic gave Serbia a fifth-minute lead with a thumping header and his side continued to dominate the first 45 minutes with Mitrovic going close on another couple of occasions.

Granit Xhaka levelled for Switzerland seven minutes into the second half with a wonderful left-footed strike from 30 yards that flew into the far corner.

Shaqiri hit the bar with a fantastically creative curler, while Mitrovic looked to have been wrestled to the ground by two defenders in the Swiss box, only for the referee, and VAR officials, to somehow ignore his pleas to take a closer look.

The game looked to be heading for a draw until Shaqiri broke free thanks to some questionable defnding on the halfway line allowing him to gallop in on goal and slot home the winner in the 90th minute.

With no time to respond Serbia fell to defeat that leaves them in thrid place in the group, a point behind Switzerland and Brazil with the South American tournament favourites to play in their final game.

Switzerland now have a great chance to making the last 16 as they're level with Brazil on four points but play the already-eliminated Costa Rica in their last outing.

Opta Stats

  • Switzerland’s 2-1 victory over Serbia is the first game at the 2018 World Cup to see a side win from a losing position.
  • As an independent nation, Serbia have lost each of the six World Cup matches in which they have conceded.
  • Switzerland have lost just one of their last 24 matches (W17 D6), a 2-0 defeat to Portugal in a World Cup qualifier in October 2017.
  • Switzerland have conceded a goal in three consecutive World Cup games; they had only conceded in three of the previous 10 before this run.
  • Stephan Lichtsteiner made his ninth World Cup appearance for Switzerland in this game – the most of any Swiss player in history.
  • Aleksandar Mitrovic has been directly involved in 15 goals in his last 15 starts for Serbia (13 goals, 2 assists).
  • Serbian forward Aleksandar Mitrovic has scored 18 goals in 26 games for club and country in 2018.
  • Five of Granit Xhaka’s 10 goals for Switzerland have come from outside the box.
  • Only Josef Hügi (6 goals) has scored more World Cup goals for Switzerland than Xherdan Shaqiri (4, tied with Robert Ballamann & Andre Abegglen).
  • Xherdan Shaqiri has been directly involved in five of Switzerland's last six World Cup goals (four goals, one assist).

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