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Football

29th Jan 2017

Watch Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka rub Roger Federer’s win in his Spanish teammates’ faces

Divided loyalties

Tom Victor

Sunday morning saw the first grand slam meeting between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal since 2014, as the Swiss great defeated his Spanish rival to win the Australian Open men’s singles championship.

Federer’s five-set victory was watched around the globe, but few were watching more eagerly than Arsenal’s first team.

As the Gunners’ players spent the morning in the gym, the national rivalry between Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka and Arsenal’s Spanish contingent (most notably Héctor Bellerín, Nacho Monreal and Lucas Pérez) intensified.

It all came to a head when Federer held serve to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to claim his first major since Wimbledon in 2012.

Xhaka wasn’t the only member of ‘Team Federer’, as the video below shows, with German internationals Shkodran Mustafi and Mesut Özil taking great pride in the Basel man’s victory.

What a game!!! The KING is back, the one and only @rogerfederer ?? #legend #AustralianOpen

A video posted by Granit Xhaka (@granitxhaka) on

The Arsenal players weren’t the only sporting figures to celebrate the victory for one of tennis’ all-time greats, and indeed not the only footballers.

Former Gunner Johan Djourou was among the Swiss footballers to celebrate the win.

And, as expected, some stars of tennis shared their support for the 18-time grand slam winner.