Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka has denied taunting Serbia's bench during yesterday's World Cup win.

The two sides met for their final Group G match where Switzerland emerged victorious - beating their opponents 3-2 - and booked their place in the World Cup round of 16.

The match was filled with controversy as Xhaka and his national team-mate Xherdan Shaqiri, who have a history of antagonising the Serbian team, were both caught making gestures during the match.

The Arsenal midfielder sparked an angry reaction from the Serbian dugout after exchanging words from afar before eventually grabbing his crotch in the direction of the bench.

Reflecting on the incident in his post-match interview, Xhaka insists that it was a moment of "emotion" and that he simply wanted "to focus on football".

He said: "You can hear from my voice that I am hoarse. It is a game with a lot of emotion. That's football. It was fair enough. We wanted to focus on football."

His manager Murat Yakin agreed with the comments and claimed that it was "a normal exchange".

"I saw Granit focus on football. It was a fair game. It was a normal exchange with a bit of emotions. It cost us a lot of power and a lot of emotions. We started well, took the lead but then we lost possession twice and fell behind," said Yakin.