The Facebook page named "Gazeta Aktule" published yesterday (September 7) an image of the footballer of Kosovar origin, Granit Xhaka, who defends the colors of the Swiss national football team.
The aforementioned page captioned this image with "Xhaka: I don't have the heart to score against Kosovo tomorrow!".
After research conducted through online search engines, hibrid.info has not been able to find evidence that such a statement came from the footballer.
Link to the post published by "Gazeta Aktule":
Hibrid.info has checked the official profile of the footballer on the social media Instagram, but the statement claimed by the aforementioned page was not found there. (see here)
Also, in the search conducted by hibrid.info through the search engine “Google”, the search results do not show evidence that supports Granit Xhaka's alleged statement, from the page “Gazeta Aktuale”. (see here)
This post made by the "Gazeta Aktuale" page has received a considerable number of comments, clearly showing that some readers have fallen prey to this false post. (see pictures below)
So, Xhaka has not made any statement regarding the match on September 9, where Kosovo will face Switzerland at the "Fadil Vokrri" stadium in Pristina, as part of the qualifiers for the 2024 European Football Championship. (see here)
Analyze:
The Facebook page "Gazeta Aktuale" has published an image of Granit Xhaka with the caption claiming that the footballer has declared that "I don't have the heart to score against Kosovo tomorrow."
But hibrid.info has researched and found no credible facts or evidence that such a statement came from the aforementioned footballer.
Therefore, based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses the publication as "Fake News".
Reasoning:
The "Fake News" rating is given to media reports that are entirely the product of a medium that itself contains factually incorrect claims or information.
Content that is considered fake news can be reliably determined to have been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.