A decade after making his Switzerland debut as a teenage substitute against England, Granit Xhaka let his pride run free.
‘They said we were arrogant but I guarantee you one thing, we really wrote history,’ beamed Xhaka, as he settled into a seat in the depths of Romania’s National Stadium.
With hair rinsed blond and the man of the match trophy beside him, the Swiss captain savoured the defining moment of an international career spanning 98 caps.
It was late, well past one o’clock in the morning and his team had just knocked world champions France out of Euro 2020 after a breathless night here in Bucharest with six goals shared and the tie settled by Yann Sommer’s shootout save from Kylian Mbappe.