Swiss hail 'great job' without Xhaka & Embolo

Switzerland feel they did "a great job" of compensating for the loss of captain Granit Xhaka and key striker Breel Embolo as they head to Hampden to face Scotland on the back of an impressive 3-0 win in North Macedonia.

Sunderland midfielder Xhaka was omitted from their squad last week, having reportedly confessed to using a fake certificate to avoid a mandatory vaccination during the Covid pandemic. The 34-year-old is under investigation by Swiss prosecutors.

Then, on the eve of their Nations League opener in Skopje, the Swiss Football Association announced Atlanta United striker Embolo had informed it "about the matter concerning his private life that became public in the media today".

The 29-year-old, who moved to Major League Soccer in August from Rennes, had been suspended for Saturday's opener anyway after his red card against Argentina.

However, he will not now join the squad as planned in Glasgow and he and Xhaka will also miss matches at home to Slovenia on 3 October and North Macedonia three days later.

"The national team will complete its current training camp without him," the Swiss FA stated "to ensure the team's focus remains firmly" on the Nations League matches.

They did that in some style on Saturday evening and, in Embolo's absence, Remo Freuler opened the scoring with his first international goal in almost two years.

Asked about Xhaka, the 34-year-old, who joined Olympiacos this summer, said: "We don't need to talk about Granit. He's a player who can't be replaced. As a team, we have to make up for that.

"We did a great job of that against North Macedonia. Let's hope it continues this way and that Granit comes back soon.

"We had a few new players and they all did very well. It was a perfect match for us really."

It took the dominant Swiss just 22 minutes to take the lead, Zeki Amdouni heading into Freuler's path to fire low into the corner from 15 yards.

Burnley midfielder Amdouni followed up with two similar finishes of his own, three minutes before half-time and then with just over a quarter-of-an-hour to go, although goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski should have done better with the first.

Zachary Athekame provided both assists as the 21-year-old right-back, on loan to Lyon from AC Milan, made an impressive debut.

Parma right-back Sascha Britschgi and Sion striker Winsley Boteli also made their senior debuts from the bench, while Milan's Ardon Jashari marshalled midfield in Xhaka's absence.

Switzerland have now lost just once, 3-1 after extra-time in the World Cup quarter-final against Argentina, in 10 outings, much to the delight of head coach Murat Yakin.

"The first half was very good indeed," he said. "The shot count was 17-1 to us.

"We are very strong at pressing teams and that's why we did so well at the World Cup.

"It worked well again against North Macedonia.

"We weren't as good in the second half and they came into the game and created a few chances but they weren't really dangerous."

Overall, the Swiss had 22 goal attempts, 13 on target, to their hosts' two off target.

"We've worked with these players who were here," Yakin added. "We've never complained and there's always an opportunity for other players."