Switzerland manager Murat Yakin skipped the pre-match press conference ahead of the Nations League match against Scotland at Hampden last night due to hearing problems caused by the flight from North Macedonia.
The former Grasshoppers, VfB Stuttgart, Fenerbahce, Basel and Kaiserslautern centre-half, whose team won their opening Group B1 match 3-0 away in Skopje on Saturday, oversaw a training session at the national stadium.
However, a Swiss Football Association spokesman revealed the man who led his country through to the quarter-finals of the World Cup this summer, had been affected by cabin pressure on the plane to Glasgow.
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He said, “Murat Yakin isn’t at the press conference because he has hearing problems. He struggled with the pressure from the flight so can’t participate in this press conference.
“He will be at the training session and we hope these complaints will be solved, as has been the case in the past, and he can be in good health for the game.
“There were some problems with the weight as we entered the flight. It means we had to land again in Zurich and they had to put more fuel in the engine.
"Once we did that we had to leave again because we wouldn’t have made the flight directly from Zurich. It’s why we had a two hour delay. We couldn’t do anything about it.”
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Switzerland assistant Davide Callà said, “We’ve spent a lot of time looking at Scotland. It was good they played against Slovenia as it meant we had a chance to watch the game.
“With the change of coach it will be a different proposition to the Euros, but we know what to expect. They will be robust, play with a lot of passion and they have a lot of quality players especially in midfield with the ball at their feet.
"In the second half against Slovenia they showed the quality they have. It was clear Scotland were better in the second half on Saturday. It’s an absolute highlight playing at this brilliant stadium. We’ll have lots of motivation to play in this big match.”
