What remains first and foremost on the Swiss side after the defeat against Denmark is a lack of understanding of the referee's decisions.
German referee Daniel Siebert caused anger in the Swiss camp twice in Copenhagen at the start of the Nations League. Firstly, shortly after the break, when he sent off Nico Elvedi for a foul on Kasper Dolberg as the last defender. "Nico was in front of Dolberg in the duel," complained national coach Murat Yakin. The Dane then committed a foul and only got the ball in front of Elvedi as a result. "The VAR only sanctioned Nico's foul. But it was Dolberg's foul that triggered the situation."
Siebert had initially awarded a penalty and yellow card. After the video referee pointed out that Elvedi's foul had taken place outside the penalty area, he corrected his decision to red and a free kick. "I think it's blatant that the referee looks at the situation in the video and still gives a red," said Manuel Akanji in amazement. The sending off made it difficult afterwards.
"Unfortunately no fair play"
The Swiss withstood the pressure from the Danes pretty well, however, until the next controversial situation. Before Patrick Dorgu made it 0-1, Breel Embolo was lying on the ground. "It wasn't a foul, but someone stepped on my hand," said the Swiss striker. Although his teammates asked the Danes to play the ball out, the Danes continued their action and promptly scored the decisive goal. "Unfortunately, that wasn't fair play on their part," regretted the Swiss.
Referee Siebert explained on the pitch that it was not his place to interrupt the game. He told me that he was not allowed to do that if there was no head injury," Embolo described the conversation. The German wanted to explain his decision in the Swiss dressing room after the game. "But that won't help us any more," said Embolo with a pained smile.
Without Xhaka against Spain
Despite the unfortunate events for Switzerland, the AS Monaco attacker did not forget to mention that "we could have done better". Nerves were on edge on the Swiss side after the 0:1. Granit Xhaka was sent off in the 87th minute with a second yellow card and will therefore miss Sunday's game against Spain, as will Elvedi.
