Arsenal and Granit Xhaka: This was always coming

Granit Xhaka released a statement following his reaction to the Arsenal fans on Sunday revealing the extent of the abuse he has received. In reality, this heated overspill was always coming.

There is no excusing Granit Xhaka’s response to the Arsenal fans on Sunday afternoon. The captain of the club, a high-profile footballer and leader, telling his own supporters to ‘f*ck off’, cupping his ear as he goaded a further reaction, trudging off the pitch with his team chasing a late winner. That is unacceptable.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — The Granit Xhaka One

Yet, if any normal person was to place themselves in Xhaka’s shoes on that day, after seeing their own substitution cheered, then being booed by 60,000 fans, they would react in the manner that Xhaka did, however irresponsible that behaviour may be.

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And the truth of the matter is that this moment has been coming for some time. In fact, spend just a smidgen of time on Xhaka’s social media over the past few months and you would very quickly and easily see why he reacted in the way that he did. This response was not a surprise.

On Thursday night, Xhaka broke his silence with a statement published on his Instagram account. It was an apology of sorts, but it also revealed some of the virtriol and abuse he has dealt with over the recent weeks and months:

"“I love this club and always give 100% on and off the pitch. My feeling of not being understood by fans, and repeated abusive comments at matches and in social media over the last weeks and months have hurt me deeply. People have said things like, ‘We will break your legs’, ‘Kill your wife’ and ‘Wish that your daughter gets cancer’. That has stirred me up and I reached boiling point when I felt the rejection in the stadium on Sunday. In this situation, I let myself be carried away and reacted in a way that disrespected the group of fans that support our club, our team and myself with positive energy. That has not been my intention and I’m sorry if that’s what people thought.”"

In this context, it is even easier to understand Xhaka’s enflamed reaction to the Arsenal fans booing him. To put it simply, he has enough of the supporters not supporting him, and while he did not handle the situation well in the moment, you can hardly blame his behaviour.

Conversely, the actions of fans towards Xhaka has been utterly deplorable. It is important that fans are able to make the distinction between player and person, criticism and abuse. Questioning a player’s involvement in the team because their performances are poor is one thing; telling that same player that they hope their ‘daughter gets cancer’ is very different.

Xhaka has had to disband comments on his social media accounts, his wife has been routinely abused on her accounts also, and his personal, human-level life is being mercilessly and relentlessly attacked, all because he is not playing very well. Football is not a matter of life and death, however it may seem.

Was Xhaka in the wrong on Sunday? Yes. Should he apologise? Probably. But he is not the only responsible. In fact,  fans must take their fair share of the blame, because, sadly, this was always coming.