It's been six games in a row that Xherdan Shaqiri has scored a goal or assisted. Or done both.
On Monday night, the Swiss Super League star scored a goal beautiful and made three masterful assists in Basel's 5:0 victory over Yverdon.
The match was the final round of the regular season in the Swiss top flight. Basel is the leader with 61 points, six more than second-place Servette. There are still five games left in the playoffs. But with Shaqiri in great form, Basel seem unstoppable on their way to the title.
With Monday's contribution, the 33-year-old now has 14 goals and 17 assists in 29 league appearances. So he has contributed more goals, either by scoring or assisting, than matches played.
Even the Swiss media admit that Shaqiri is in top form.
"The Swiss league usually honors the best player of the previous 12 months in January. This year, the league could award Xherdan Shaqiri the award as early as April. It can't get any better than that. One goal and three assists – two of them world-class," wrote "Blick", which named Shaqiri the best player of the match.
"Blick" also wrote that Shaqiri was exceptional in Basel's victory.
The official website of Swiss television has also praised Shaqiri.
"Extraordinary Shaqiri: Basel leader goes beyond Yverdon," is the SRF headline.
Swiss television devoted space to Shaqiri's back-heel assist, which was very beautiful.
“Shaqiri's performance at 'St. Jakobs Park'”, wrote another well-known Swiss website, “bluewin.ch”. For this medium too, there was no doubt that Shaqiri was the man of the match.
"What else can be said? Contribution to four goals. The superlatives are running out," wrote "bluewin.ch".
Even the Basel-based website "bazonline.ch" mentioned captain Shaqiri's brilliance in the decisive victory.
The official website of the Basel club highlighted Shaqiri's brilliance in the headline of the report. It declared the Kosovar player of the match. Xherdan's performance, according to Basel, was magical.
Basel have won five games in a row for the first time in more than seven years. With their current form, they will soon celebrate the championship title, which they have been waiting for since 2017. It will be Basel's 21st title, and Shaqiri's fourth in Switzerland with this team. The first three were won between 2010 and 2012.
