Switzerland vs Belgium: Xherdan Shaqiri helps put Thibaut Courtois to the sword

Liverpool star Xherdan Shaqiri was magnificent as he helped Switzerland put Real Madrid ace Thibaut Courtois to the sword as they beat Belgium.

Despite opening the scoring thanks to a Thorgan Hazard double, the Swiss came back stronger than Robbie Williams after he split from Take That.

Roberto Martinez will be apoplectic that his side allowed Switzerland to hit five unanswered goals after storming to a great early lead. The younger Hazard had Belgium up by two after 17 minutes, then it all fell to pieces – and it was led by Shaqiri.

Sure, the Powercube didn’t score any goals – but he got two assists and finished the game with an amazing 9.0 rating from WhoScored. The Liverpool star was the second best player on the pitch, beaten by hattrick hero Haris Seferovic.

Once again Shaqiri played in the no. 10 role, so that’ll give Reds boss Jurgen Klopp some food for thought as he prepares for Premier League action as they take on Watford on Saturday.

With six completed dribbles and a 91% pass success rate, the former Stoke City man was a constant horn in the side of Martinez’s defence. To put that into perspective, the next best dribbler was Eden Hazard and he only completed two. Just two!

Shaqiri also made 71 touches as he helped Switzerland put five past former Chelsea goalkeeper Courtois. Most of these were in the opposition final third, or around the edge of the penalty box, which shows that Shaq was getting into dangerous positions regularly.

It’s encouraging to see the attacker take his club form into the Nations League, but now he needs more chances at Liverpool to prove himself.

Klopp has been bringing the new signing into the side carefully, but his form has been excellent and now he’ll be buzzing after such a performance.

Liverpool’s attack is missing a bit of spark lately, and Shaqiri can be the man to fix that. Just look what he did against Courtois and Belgium!