A Kosovan by birth, Xherdan Shaqiri's parents emigrated to Switzerland before his first birthday. Shaqiri rose through FC Basel's youth ranks and signed a five-year professional deal aged seventeen. After three seasons he joined Bayern Munich, winning the Treble in his first season (although he did not feature in the Champions League final against Jürgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund at Wembley). Liverpool showed an interest in signing Shaqiri in 2014 but Bayern refused to sanction a deal. In January 2015 he moved to inter Milan but had a frustrating time at the San Siro, scoring just once in fifteen games. Stoke City signed him for £12million in the summer and he spent three years there, showing signs of individual brilliance but being accused by fans at times of not being up for a battle. 

When Stoke were relegated at the end of 2017/18, Liverpool activated a £13million release clause in Shaqiri's contract to add some in-depth quality to the squad. After some impressive cameo appearances from the bench, Shaqiri started his first game on 22 September against Southampton, having a hand in all three first-half goals. His first goal came against Cardiff on 27 October. On 16 December big Shaq came off the bench to score twice as the Reds beat Manchester United 3-1. Although used fleetingly after Christmas, Shaqiri was dependable when called upon and played all ninety minutes of the memorable Champions League comeback against Barcelona, setting up the tie levelling goal.