Granit Xhaka blasted his Arsenal teammates as his side's chances of a top-four finish came crashing down under the bright lights of St James' Park. Suffering a 2-0 loss away at Newcastle, Arsenal players came under fire from Xhaka, 29, who questioned the Gunners' lack of "balls".
The midfielder said: "If someone isn’t ready for this game, stay at home. It doesn’t matter the age. If you’re not ready or you’re nervous, stay on the bench, stay at home, don’t come here. We need people to have the balls to come here and play. We knew this game was maybe the most important for us but, with a performance like this, it’s not acceptable."
The feisty Swiss midfielder may be comforted by the simple fact he is able to go home to a beautiful family, despite the next stage of his career looking a little less glossy. It remains up to arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur to deliver the final blow, but the Lilywhites only need a draw against already relegated Norwich City on the last day, while the Gunners host relegation battlers Everton.
Who is Granit Xhaka married to?
Granit Xhaka is married to Leonita Lekaj, the two having met when he played for German club Borussia Monchengladbach. The two share a Kosovo-Albanian background and were engaged in 2016 after spending two years together. They eventually tied the knot in 2017 in a dream ceremony.
Sharing a picture of their engagement, Granit said: "A golden Ball is a miracle, a golden wife is a paradise!"
The happy couple welcomed their first daughter Ayana in 2017, followed by another, Laneya, in 2021. The sometimes controversial former captain said: "I no longer have one beautiful princess, now I have two."
Why did Granit Xhaka question his teammate's lack of balls?
Granit Xhaka ripped into his teammates after his Arsenal side was unable to reclaim the fourth spot in the Premier League with a game to go. A win would have left Arsenal in the all-important fourth-placed spot going into the last game of the season against Everton. Now, they have to hope a 'lasagne-gate' scenario occurs all over again and their North London nemesis somehow fails to qualify.
Not reaching the top four spot has a huge effect on a club's ability to draw in the top talent from around the world to bolster and improve their squad. Xhaka told the BBC: "We wanted to have a big game but it didn't happen... People speak always about leaders. We're not playing tennis, we're playing football. If someone is not ready for this pressure, stay at home.
"You can't come here and play like this. We looked very bad today. The gameplan was totally different. We played a totally different game."
With the Europa League to play for instead of the Champions League, Europe's biggest and best club competition, Arsenal may struggle to land themselves big deals on players ahead of the likes of Spurs, Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea.
Xhaka added: "They were running us over from the first minute to the 96th. When you play like this, you don't deserve to play in the Champions League. The thing is the pressure. If you can't handle the pressure, it ends like today. It looks like we can't do something against the pressure."