Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka cannot sleep the entire night on the days when the club loses a match. His wife Leonita has shared details of how Xhaka finds it difficult to sleep after defeats in the club's new All or Nothing Amazon documentary on Prime.
Xhaka himself spoke about how deeply he is affected by losing games. He also added that he would love for the fans to see the effort his team puts as a unit into training everyday.
"It's our job, the people, for example, don't see us in the training ground, they don't see how hard we are working. They see us only for 90 minutes," the Arsenal midfielder was quoted as saying (reported via the Daily Star).
Xhaka added:
"Everyone has a bad day, that's why I think 'why can't we bring the fans once a week so they can see how we train.' It's not like we are coming here to waste our time and that we don't care about the 90 minutes. We care more than people think."
The Swiss midfielder continued:
"Me and Aaron [Ramsdale], for example, can't sleep when we lose. Nobody can see that this makes me very disappointed and very sad that people say we don't get everything from the club. This is bulls***, you know. It's difficult in England to bring people to the training ground. In Germany it's different. In Germany you have two, three, four thousand people that come every day."
Xhaka's better half confirmed the sleeping problems by saying:
"When they have lost a game and he comes home, he's really upset. I try to speak with him a little bit and tell him the next game's better. But… he can't sleep the whole night when they lose."
Granit Xhaka's Arsenal are off to a bright start this season
Arsenal put on a solid display in their opening league match against Crystal Palace on August 5. Xhaka's team won the game 2-0 at Selhurst Park. He collected a yellow card for diving but was otherwise solid throughout the game.
Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring for the Gunners while a Marc Guehi own goal doubled Arsenal's lead in the second half. Debutant William Saliba earned the man of the match award for his brilliant performance against the Eagles.
The Gunners will take on Leicester City next at the Emirates Stadium.