Newcastle United defender Fabian Schar was suffering with illness during Switzerland's 6-1 World Cup defeat to Portugal on Tuesday evening, according to national team boss Murat Yakin. The centre-half was withdrawn at the half-time with the Swiss already trailing 2-0 in the Round of 16 clash.
Schar had also earned an early booking in the Qatar clash, with many supporters thinking it was a tactical decision to take him off so early. However, Yakin has moved to clarify why some of his stars struggled in the knockout clash.
"Unfortunately, [Silvan] Widmer had a cold. Same for Schar," the Swiss boss revealed at full-time. "He was out of breath at half-time. [Nico] Elvedi also had a fever. He was not fully ready. Schar wasn’t himself either.
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"We must accept this defeat and congratulate Portugal. They were the best team this evening. They surprised us. We lost a game today but that doesn’t mean we have to be too pessimistic and criticise everything.
"The team has shown great team spirit. But this defeat hurts. The score and the manner of the loss sadden me.”
Portugal's emphatic win was spearheaded by 21-year-old Benfica forward Goncalo Ramos, who hit a hat-trick for his country after being drafted in to replace Cristiano Ronaldo in the starting XI.
Newcastle held a firm interest in the young hitman over the summer, reaching out to his Portuguese club in the hope a deal could be struck. Benfica ended up playing hardball and talks collapsed, with the Magpies instead splashing £58m on Alexander Isak towards the business end of the window instead.
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