Xherdan Shaqiri thinks it is important Stoke kicked off the season with a point
Sunday 14 August 2016 13:35, UK
Stoke's Xherdan Shaqiri says the club's results are of far more concern to him than personal plaudits.
And the 24-year-old thinks the point he earned with a spectacular strike at Middlesbrough on Saturday represented a decent start for his team.
Shaqiri has been in good goal-scoring form of late, bagging one of the best goals of Euro 2016 for Swiizerland against Poland.
That was an acrobatic overhead kick, and he followed up with a superb free-kick to salvage a 1-1 draw at the Riverside.
Asked about his strike by the Stoke website; he said: "For me, it is more important to help the team.
"Of course, it's always nice to score for a player. But I feel fit, I feel very good, and that's more important, so I can help the team more.
"We are looking forward to the next games - we have a lot of games to play. It's a long season.
"I am pleased to help my team, really happy to help the team to this point. It was important for the first game.
"Of course, we want to win every game, but a draw is a good start and we will keep going and look forward to the next games."
Shaqiri and team mate Marko Arnautovic both pressed their claims to take the pivotal free-kick and the scorer agreed that the right man won the debate.
"I was in a good mood!" he said. "I felt very well so, in the end, it was the right decision to shoot."
