Switzerland captain downed bottle of Coke before shock shootout win as drink becomes meme of tournament

Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka was captured chugging a bottle of Coca Cola before his team knocked out favourites France in a shocking penalty shootout.

After playing for 120 minutes on the pitch and coming back from 3-1 down, it’s no wonder the Arsenal midfielder needed a sugar boost.

Coca Cola’s PR team are probably grinning from ear to ear as a result of Xhaka’s endorsement.

Since the brand didn’t exactly get a ringing endorsement from Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, after he recently made headlines for snubbing the beverage during a Euro 2020 press conference.

Instead, the striker told everyone to “drink water” and Coca Cola’s share price tumbled after his comments.

After this, the drink became the meme of the tournament.

With Italy’s Manuel Locatelli following in Ronald’s steps, and Scotland’s John McGinn jokingly asking “Nae Coke?” when he arrived at his press conference.

So, of course it had to have been a bottle of Coke that replenished the Switzerland captain just before his team won 5-4 on penalties after France’s Kylian Mbappe missed his spot kick to knock France out of the tournament.

The meme has officially come full circle.

Though we’re not sure if Xhaka was poking fun at Ronaldo’s now infamous snub, or if he was actually craving the fizzy drink during the tense game.

People flocked to Twitter to joke about Xhaka knocking back the beverage.

Meanwhile, some joked about the reaction of Coca Cola’s PR team to Xhaka’s endorsement.

While others quipped that Ronaldo should have followed Xhaka’s approach by drinking Coke and that Portugal might not have then been knocked by Belgium on Sunday if he had.

Xhaka was praised for his performance and was awarded “Man of the Match” for his long ball passes helped his team to eventually equalise at 3-3 and go into extra time.

It’s understandable that the footballer was in a jovial during the press conference after the historic win.

“Sorry to say this word, but it’s f***ing amazing, man,” he told journalists.

“We can make score the 2-0 and finish the game but the penalty we missed breaks us a little bit.

“After 3-1, to come back like this against France, to show big character, this team is f***ing amazing, man

Though it looks like we won’t be seeing a Xhaka-Cola Cola collab in Switzerland’s quarter final match against Spain on Friday.

This is because the captain has to miss the match after picking up two yellow cards during the course of the tournament.