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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Mark Wakefield

Liverpool's Xherdan Shaqiri stars in World Cup qualifier win as Thiago Alcantara absent for Spain

Thursday saw a mixed bag of results for the Liverpool players away on international duty with their respective countries.

Earlier in the week, Reds centre-back Ozan Kabak featured for Turkey in their World Cup qualifier win over the Netherlands, a team which featured Gini Wijnaldum.

The latest round of matches on Thursday saw several more Liverpool players feature, with Xherdan Shaqiri arguably the standout performer.

The 29-year-old was the star as Switzerland completed a 3-1 win over Bulgaria in Sofia, chipping in with two assists.

Shaqiri could easily have had a goal of his own, after an effort of his ricocheted off the post and remained on the line before Steven Zuber tapped in from close-range.

Elsewhere, Andy Robertson played the full 90 minutes for Scotland in their World Cup qualifying draw with Austria, as did Mohamed Salah for Egypt against Kenya as they secured qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations next year.

While Thiago Alcantara was an unused substitute for Spain as they also drew in their qualifying match against Greece, who had Kostas Tsimikas for 80 minutes of the contest before he was substituted.

In terms of Under-21 action, Curtis Jones featured as a substitute as the Young Lions were beaten 1-0 by Switzerland.

He replaced Everton’s Tom Davies just after the hour-mark, but could not help Aidy Boothroyd's side avoid defeat.

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