A year ago they were fighting together with Bayer Leverkusen, now they are bitter opponents in the Premier League: Florian Wirtz and Granit Xhaka meet on Wednesday evening.
When Bayer Leverkusen sent RB Salzburg home with a 5-0 gala victory in the Champions League in November 2024, Granit Xhaka was full of praise for Florian Wirtz: “Seeing him play is a treat for every fan and teammate.”said the then Bayer clock about his young supporting player, who had contributed a brace to the victory.
Today, a good year later, the 33-year-old Swiss and the 22-year-old German have far fewer points of contact, even though both have moved to the English Premier League. Xhaka now plays for AFC Sunderland, Wirtz wears the Liverpool FC jersey.
Liverpool is puzzling, Sunderland is on top
The paths of the two former Bayer heroes will cross again on Wednesday. Liverpool host newly promoted Sunderland – it’s an extremely important match for both. Liverpool has had an almost messed up league season so far and is currently only in eighth place with 21 points. The mood at newly promoted Sunderland is completely different: with 22 points “Black Cats“currently sixth – no one would have believed the newcomer from the north-east of England to be able to do that before the season.
The AFC’s key player – one had already guessed it in advance – is Granit Xhaka. The Swiss international, who played on the island for seven years between 2016 and 2023, continued in Sunderland where he left off in Leverkusen: as a leader.
AFC surprises the football world
Sunderland was only able to secure promotion through the playoffs and was actually considered a relegation candidate before the season. But Sunderland is currently surprising the football world with its strong transfers, with the help of which the newly promoted team has jumped straight into the top group of the league. The Swiss national team captain, who came for 15 million euros, is the big leader. After a short time, coach Regis Le Bris knew that the captain’s armband had to go to the Swiss. “He’s like a second coach on the pitch”says the Frenchman enthusiastically.
There aren’t many guys like Xhaka. He is a classic six, center player and brings components to the pitch with which you can win titles: game intelligence, leadership, technique, goal threat and above all: resilience. He can endure anything and won’t let himself be defeated. In England he is considered “most valuable summer transfer in the entire league” celebrated.
Wirtz is looking for his role
The interim balance for Florian Wirtz looks a little different. At the beginning of the season he was more or less desperately searching for his position and role in Liverpool’s star ensemble, but in the meantime he has slipped into the abyss in the wake of the entire team crisis.
Wirtz’s team has already suffered six defeats in the league this season. Liverpool also had to admit defeat twice in the Champions League: against Galatasaray (0:1) and most recently against PSV Eindhoven (1:4). Wirtz and Co. were only able to breathe a sigh of relief last weekend. There was an almost vital 2-0 win at West Ham – if there was another defeat they would probably have had to seriously consider a quick change of coach.
“Everyone just wants to play for themselves”
But coach Arne Slot, who mastered the transition from Jürgen Klopp with Liverpool surprisingly seamlessly last year and won the English title, is not attributed by many experts with the main blame for Liverpool’s misery. A majority of the stars – like Mo Salah as a prime example – cannot currently come close to matching their previous performances.
Bayern’s honorary president Uli Hoeneß – probably still angry because Wirtz didn’t come to Bayern – sees a fundamental problem in the team composition of the “Reds”. “Poor Florian Wirtz, he just can’t get the ball because Salah and Szoboszlai and all the others just want to play for themselves”said the honorary president of FC Bayern at an event in the Munich Olympic Hall at the weekend. Hoeneß continued caustically: “They’ll soon need five balls to play because the stars all want him for themselves.”
Victory at West Ham gives momentum
With their recent success, Liverpool can now go into the duel with the cheeky newcomer at least a little more confident. Interesting: At West Ham, coach Slot left Salah on the bench at the start of the game for the first time since spring 2024. And the Egyptian wasn’t substituted either. What would normally be close to lèse-majesté could turn into a key sleight of hand.
Slot takes risks
Slot took a risk with Salah. He dared even more when it came to Florian Wirtz. Although he was out for around two weeks after recovering from a muscle injury and had only trained once, he was allowed to start, even on the beloved ten. And he only took it down after 75 minutes. “In a way it was a risk,” he admitted, “but some situations require an exception, and I think today was one of them”said Slot later.
Wirtz thanked him for it and was something of a pivotal point in Liverpool’s offensive game for the first time. If he can pull off a performance like that against Sunderland, Yhaka could perhaps get excited again. Even if it would certainly be a little more difficult for him this time.