Xherdan Shaqiri misses a penalty against St.Gallen on Sunday. Again! Since his return to FC Basel, he has already failed five times from the spot. Will he now even be dropped as a scorer?
It wasn't so long ago that Swiss footballers were celebrating Shaqiri for his cheeky Panenka penalty. On 6 November, he scored in the 19th minute against FCSB in the Europa League to make it 1:0. In the end, Basel won 3:1. All was right with the red and blue, thanks to Shaqiri.
Shaqiri misses two penalties in a row
Three days later, Shaqiri grabs the ball again in the game against Lugano. But instead of giving FCB the lead, he fails to score against Amir Saipi, who reacts strongly. In the end, Lugano won 1:0. Bitter.
On Sunday against St. Gallen, Basel are awarded another penalty. Shaqiri once again takes responsibility. And he misses again! The game ends 0-0. Just bad luck? Perhaps. But maybe not.
Since his return to FCB, Shaqiri has already converted 10 penalties, but has also missed five of them. That's not a dream record. Is Ludovic Magnin already thinking about changing the scorer?
Asked about this at the press conference after the draw against St. Gallen, the FCB coach said: "It's unfortunate, of course, that Shaqiri missed two penalties with the score at 0-0. We'll see what happens next time. We have a few other names on the list." Against St. Gallen, Bénie Traoré would have been second on the list, according to the FCB coach.
However, Magnin seems to want to keep his cool and makes it clear that even the best players in the world have already missed penalties. In other words: "Shaqiri certainly doesn't need any help."
The coach himself needs more and more help - in the form of points. Ludovic Magnin is aware of this.
