“This is unforgivable, but everyone makes mistakes!”

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A few minutes before departure, Michael Lang pulls out a box of chocolates. “It’s for you journalists,” shouts the Basel defender. Captain Fabian Frei acknowledges the action with an incredulous look: “After all that has been written in recent days, are you giving them anything?”

What Frei means is clear: the coverage of the match against FCZ. Three FCB players are sent off and heavily criticized. Taulant Xhaka mainly comes to the box office because he completely loses heart in the final phase.

No interviews by Xhaka

That is probably why the FCB terrier stopped giving chocolate three days later. And no interviews either. What else should Xhaka have said? That he shouldn’t have grabbed Antonio Marchesano in the face and nailed Nikola Katic? That provocations are commonplace in top sport? That as an experienced player he should have kept his courage and stood above the case?

Xhaka has already written it all out in his Instagram statement – adding that his family was offended. This is the top priority for the 32-year-old. Then FCB will come soon. With the exception of a short detour to GC, he remains loyal to the city, the club. “I could have gone abroad. When Paulo Sousa left FCB for Fiorentina, he called me three or four times a day because he wanted to take me with him. But I immediately told him that I would stay in Basel. can’t imagine wearing any other shirt,” Xhaka said in a major Blick interview about a year ago.

Vogel has a high opinion of his captain

Instead of the 32-year-old, he now plays against AC Fiorentina. And Heiko Vogel is happy about that. “Off the field he takes care of the boys, on the lawn he is my outstretched arm. He directs, he wakes up, he praises, he sets a good example,” says the FCB coach.

And sometimes he loses his nerve. Like on Sunday against FC Zurich. “Tauli is essentially an emotional player, I’ve talked to him and he would approach the whole thing differently. Even though there are always two involved and the FCZ players haven’t necessarily beaten him, it shouldn’t happen to him like that, It’s unforgivable, he knows that, but everyone makes mistakes.”

They will likely have consequences. When asked whether Xhaka will be fined internally, Vogel replied. “We are still discussing it, but it is clear that we will not tolerate it.”

Sports-wise, however, Xhaka’s freakout has no bearing. There is much to indicate that he will be in the starting eleven on Thursday evening (9pm) in the first leg of the semi-finals.

Source : Blick