Xherdan Shaqiri: Liverpool Have Similar Title-Winning Mentality To Bayern Munich

The Swiss international has experience winning a Bundesliga title, and he sees the same qualities in this side as past Bayern ones.

Xherdan Shaqiri has done well to endear himself to the Liverpool faithful in his first season. After his career had seemingly stalled at Stoke City and signing for a cut-rate fee of £13 million, not much was expected out of him.

Regardless, the 27-year-old has impressed, with 6 goals and 3 assists in all competitions this season, including the 2 decisive ones against Manchester United (always a good way to earn Kopites’ good graces). And Shaq has been around the block, with previous stints at Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.

That experience, particularly with Bayern, means that Shaqiri is one of the few players to actually go through the experience of winning a league title in a top European league.

“I played in Germany and won titles there, so I have experience of it,” the Swiss international said in an interview with the club’s official website. “It has to be a winning mentality and the players need to be focused.

“The mentality is similar [here]. You need to go into games trying to win them and to give everything to do that.

“I am pretty sure with the talent we have in the team we can achieve a lot.

”Now we need to keep going this hard until the end. To work hard in training, to take the training into the games and to keep going. There is a long way to go, but we are in a very, very good way to be successful.”

Shaqiri might not be the most important player in the squad, but having that title-winning experience has to help. He was at Bayern from 2012-2015, and was part of the treble-winning Bayern team that dethroned Klopp’s all-conquering gegenpressing Dortmund side, both in the league and the Champions League final.

Knowing what it takes to win, and seeing that same mentality in his current squad can only be a good sign. Hopefully he can play a part in helping this Klopp side dethrone Pep’s all-conquering Manchester City this time around. We might not be able to win the treble, but I don’t think too many fans would be disappointed with the double.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com