Former Arsenal skipper Granit Xhaka on Sunday took to Instagram to express his thoughts after Switzerland registered a win against Georgia in the UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifiers. However, his words seemed to be a not so subtle dig at Arsenal fans who had booed and abused him during the course of a Premier League match in October.
Xhaka’s post, originally in German, loosely translates to, “Happiness is when you are satisfied with yourself and do not need the confirmation of others.”
Glück ist, wenn du mit dir selbst zufrieden bist und dafür nicht die Bestätigung anderer brauchst.
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In a recent interview with a Swiss newspaper Blick, Xhaka described what he felt of the incident which happened during the Crystal Palace encounter.
“When my shirt number lit up on the board of the fourth official and then broke jealous jubilation of their own fans, that hit me very much and stirred up,” the Swiss midfielder was quoted as saying by Blick.
“It was very painful and frustrating,” he added.
“For me, this reaction is still incomprehensible, especially in this vehemence and how extremely hostile I was here.”
“Justifiable criticism from fans makes you grow as an athlete. But when you get scolded by this very footballing family in times when you are already being attacked massively, it hurts a lot,” he concluded.