Stoke City defender Philipp Wollscheid has defended the fitness of Xherdan Shaqiri.

The centre-back has focused on Shaqiri in his an expert column on Euro 2016 for Volksfreund, a regional newspaper based in Bernkastel-Kues, Germany.

He said: "In Switzerland, one topic being discussed passionately about one of my teammates at Stoke, Xherdan Shaqiri.

"There has been criticism he is overweight. I can confirm he is not. It is a complete exaggeration.

"He has always been one who has a strong and muscular physique – and he is a very important player for the Switzerland national team.

"He can certainly do more than he has shown so far at the Euros and that he will know himself.

"But Switzerland has comfortably and confidently qualified for the knock-out stages so it cannot be all bad."