Xherdan Shaqiri has opened up on being left out of the Liverpool's trip to Belgrade

Xherdan Shaqiri has accepted Jurgen Klopp’s decision to omit him from Liverpool’s Belgrade trip, as he claims that it left him fresh for Fulham. Klopp didn't include Shaqiri in the squad against Red Star Belgrade as he did not want the Swiss star to become a distraction. Shaqiri, who is an ethnic Kosovan Albanian, angered Serbs during the World Cup with his Albanian double-headed eagle goal celebration against them for Switzerland and he would have been targeted in Belgrade, writes Mirror. “There is a very hot atmosphere there and so it was better to stay at home and just concentrate on football,” Shaqiri said. “I was fresh, I stayed here and trained with some other players, but it doesn’t change a lot. I wanted to give a good performance and, yeah, it was a good one. “In the end it is the coach’s decision who is playing and against who. If he decides to play you from the beginning, nice and good, but also if you are on the bench, try to come in and make an impact. “Only 11 players can play and we have a big squad. Everybody has to accept the decisions of the coach and up until now it’s gone very well and we are in a good way.”

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