Who shone, who fell off? blue Sport follows the performances of the Swiss mercenaries very closely.
Germany
Dortmund
Gregor Kobel
Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt played out a wild 3-3 draw in the Bundesliga restart on Friday evening. Gregor Kobel can be absolved of any blame for all three goals conceded.
In the days before, he had been named the best goalkeeper in the Bundesliga in the first half of the season by the German magazine "Kicker".
Gladbach
Nico Elvedi
Gladbach's resurrection after a disastrous start to the season continues into the new year. A commanding 4:0 home win against Augsburg on Sunday. Elvedi directs the defense and plays to zero. A hard-nosed performance from the Swiss.
Gladbach
Jonas Omlin
Omlin also sits on the Gladbach bench in 2026.
Freiburg
Johan Manzambi
Manzambi is given a more defensive role in midfield against HSV. The 20-year-old from Geneva does a good job and is able to get involved in the attack at the end. In the 83rd minute, he won the decisive header duel before scoring the 2:1 winner and set up Jan-Niklas Beste from the air for the assist.
Fribourg
Bruno Ifechukwu Ogbus
After being called up to the bench for the last two Bundesliga games of the year, the U21 international is once again missing from the squad against HSV.
HSV
Miro Muheim
Sleeps in the starting phase and is lucky that Freiburg fail to hit the crossbar after an attack down his side. But, as is so often the case, they take dangerous corners - one of which leads to a 1-0 lead for HSV. Despite Muheim's 4th Bundesliga assist, however, Hamburg end up without points - partly because team-mate Elfadli is sent off shortly after the break.
HSV
Silvan Hefti
The St.Gallen native is still missing from the promoted team's squad.
Frankfurt
Aurèle Amenda
Amenda sits on the bench for the full distance in the crazy 3-3 draw against Dortmund.
Mainz 05
Silvan Widmer
Union Berlin spoil Urs Fischer's first Bundesliga success as Mainz coach on his emotional return to the old Försterei. Widmer plays 90 minutes under his Swiss coach. He was not involved in the goals in the 2-2 draw, either up front or at the back. Before scoring the equalizer to make it 2-1, he let himself be outplayed with a cleverly played one-two.
Stuttgart
Leonidas Stergiou
Stergiou sits on the substitutes' bench for the entire match against Hoffenheim and watches from there as his team-mates beat Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 away from home.
Stuttgart
Luca Jaquez
Jaquez is still out with a thigh injury.
Werder Bremen
Isaac Schmidt
Storm Elli also rages in Germany. The match between Werder Bremen and Hoffenheim was called off due to heavy snowfall.
Augsburg
Cédric Zesiger
Zesiger is in the starting line-up for Augsburg for the second time in a row and for the third time this season. Will it stay that way after the unfortunate 4-0 defeat in Gladbach? Zesiger does not always look solid, but is not primarily to blame for the goals conceded. At least he stayed on the pitch until the end, unlike his team-mate Rieder.
Augsburg
Fabian Rieder
Rieder and the Augsburg offense didn't do well at all on Sunday. Rieder can only take credit for one harmless shot in the opening phase. At the break, with the score at 0:3, he had already called it a day.
1st FC Cologne
Joël Schmied
Schmied is missing for Cologne with a thigh injury. Without the Swiss player, the Effzeh drew 2-2 at Heidenheim.
England
Sunderland
Granit Xhaka
The Premier League gives way to the legendary FA Cup this weekend. There, Sunderland won on penalties after a 1-1 draw at Everton. Xhaka is shown a yellow card shortly before the end of normal time in the 88th minute. In the penalty shoot-out thriller, the national team captain sinks the visitors' second attempt ice-cold into the bottom right corner. Everton keeper Jordan Pickford must have made a mistake on his drinking bottle cheat sheet, as he remains in the middle and can only look helplessly after the ball. After converting the penalty, Xhaka turns to the England goalkeeper and laughingly lets him know that he made the wrong decision.
Pickford, known as a penalty killer, just misses from eleven meters. Everton also missed all their own attempts, with ex-Basel striker Thierno Barry also failing to score.
During the week, Sunderland had lost 3-0 to Brentford in the league. There, too, Xhaka played the full 90 minutes.
Newcastle
Fabian Schär
On Wednesday, Schär had to be carried off the pitch on a stretcher during the 4-3 win against Leeds. Initially a fracture was suspected, but later the all-clear was given, at least in part. It is said to be an ankle injury and Newcastle are confident that Schär "will be able to play again before the end of the season".
On Saturday, the Magpies beat Bournemouth 3-3 on penalties in the FA Cup without the Swiss.
Leeds United
Noah Okafor
Leeds took the lead three times against Newcastle on Wednesday before losing 4-3 after a goal in the 112th minute. Okafor came on in the 80th minute with the score at 3-3.
He was then allowed to start in the FA Cup on Sunday. In the 3-1 win over lower-ranked Derby County, Okafor had his feet in the game for the decisive 2-1. His working day ended in the 89th minute.
Nottingham Forest
Dan Ndoye
Ndoye is rested after his injury in Tuesday's 2-1 league win over West Ham, but is in the starting line-up for Friday's cup tie against second division Wrexham. However, things did not go as planned. First Ndoye was replaced by Hudson-Odoi with the score at 1-2, then his attacking rival promptly scored twice and, in the end, an embarrassing cup exit against the Championship side followed on penalties.
Burnley
Zeki Amdouni
Amdouni is still out with his knee injury. He is expected to return in April. Burnley play Manchester United 2:2 and then win 5:1 against Millwall in the Cup.
Italy
Inter Milan
Yann Sommer
Scott McTominay played a great game on Sunday evening, beating Sommer twice in a 2-2 draw between Inter and Napoli. The Nerazzurri had led twice and were on the verge of extending their lead at the top of the table to five points with a win. Sommer was powerless to stop both goals. Otherwise he didn't have much to do.
Inter Milan
Manuel Akanji
Akanji was also unable to prevent the two goals conceded. He was close to McTominay on both occasions, but was unable to prevent the Scot from finishing.
During the week, the Swiss duo managed a 2-0 win with Inter at Parma. Akanji and Sommer don't concede anything at the back - but in one scene they have the goalkeeper to thank.
Genoa
Benjamin Siegrist
Siegrist misses the games against Milan (1-1) and Cagliari (Monday, 6.30pm) with a broken finger.
Bologna
Remo Freuler
Freuler has fully recovered from his collarbone fracture and has returned to the starting line-up in the new year. During the week in the 2-0 defeat to Atalanta and on Saturday in the 1-1 draw against Como, he was allowed to start. Both times he put in his usual solid performances and was taken off the pitch with a quarter of an hour to go.
AC Milan
Ardon Jashari
On Thursday, Jashari was still on the bench for the 1-1 draw against Genoa, before making his first appearance in a Serie A match since joining AC Milan in the away game against Fiorentina at the weekend. The 23-year-old didn't make much of an impact and was substituted after 60 minutes with the score at 0-0. The game ends 1:1.
Meanwhile, Jashari is voted player of the year in Belgium despite leaving in the summer!
AC Milan
Zachary Athekame
He makes a brief appearance against Genoa from the 76th minute. He then only sees out the 1-1 draw at Fiorentina from the bench.
Fiorentina
Simon Sohm
Sohm sits on the bench for 90 minutes in the 2-2 draw against Lazio during the week. He didn't fare much better against Milan on Sunday. At least he was allowed on the pitch for stoppage time after the Rossoneri equalized 1-1 in the 90th minute.
Pisa
Michel Aebischer
Aebischer is one of the first names on the scoresheet for Pisa. He started from the beginning in both the 3-0 defeat to Como on Tuesday and the 2-2 draw against Udinese at the weekend.
While he didn't manage much during the week, he shone in attack on Saturday with the assist for the 1-0, but just six minutes later his opponent ran off a corner and nodded in the equalizer. A mixed matchday for Aebischer.
Pisa
Daniel Denoon
Denoon is missing for Pisa with ankle problems.
AS Roma
Alessandro Romano
The Zurich native played his second competitive game for AS Roma on Saturday. The 19-year-old came on as a substitute in the 88th minute of the 2-0 win over Sassuolo.
Spain
Betis Sevilla
Ricardo Rodriguez
Rodriguez started from the bench against Ovideo and was only sent on in the 80th minute. Just in time to admire his team-mate Giovani Lo Celso's goal from close range to equalize the score at 1-1. Not much happened after that.
Sevilla
Djibril Sow
Sevilla play Celta Vigo on Monday evening(21:00 live on blue Sport).
Sevilla
Ruben Vargas
Vargas could be fit again after his thigh injury. However, it is unclear whether he will actually be in the squad.
Valencia
Filip Ugrinic
After missing the previous week against Celta Vigo, Ugrinic is back in Valencia's starting line-up against Elche. Until his substitution in the 77th minute, however, he did not make many notable appearances. The game ends 1:1.
Valencia
Eray Cömert
Meanwhile, Cömert sits on the bench for 90 minutes.
France
AS Monaco
Philipp Köhn
Köhn starts from the beginning in the sixteenth-final of the Coupe de France against US Orléans. Despite the lower-ranked opponent, the Swiss keeper has plenty to do. He made a number of top saves, particularly in the early stages. Köhn had no chance when he conceded the only goal in the 96th minute. Monaco win the game 3:1.
AS Monaco
Denis Zakaria
Zakaria is also on the pitch for 90 minutes. Although the coordination at the back doesn't seem to be right at all, especially at the beginning, Zakaria gets involved in the offense several times and leads his colors into the round of 16 as captain and with two assists. And that despite a questionable sending off against Monaco shortly before the break.
Marseille
Ulisses Garcia
Marseille will play their Cup match against Bayeux on Tuesday (21:00).
Stade Rennes
Breel Embolo
Rennes beat Chantilly US 3-1 in the Coupe de France. Embolo was substituted in the 56th minute with the score at 0-0 and gave the offense a real boost. However, the Swiss striker failed to score.
Lorient
Yvon Mvogo
Mvogo is given a break during the cup weekend and is not in the squad. Without their regular goalkeeper, Lorient won 3-1 against Hauts Lyonnais.
Le Havre
Felix Mambimbi
Le Havre were eliminated from the Coupe de France back in December after a 2-0 defeat against Amiens. Mambimbi will therefore enjoy a week off.
