Shkodran Mustafi has revealed his initial uncertainty at being coached by former Serbian defender Sinisa Mihajlovic at Sampdoria, but how it all turned out well in the end.

As we saw over the summer, relations between Albanians and Serbians aren’t exactly at an all-time high at the moment. Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, two players with Albanian heritage, got in trouble at the World Cup after celebrating their goals against Serbia by making an Albanian eagle sign with their hands.

Speaking to Bosnian TV, Mustafi explained that this tension made him very wary when he heard who would be taking over as manager of Sampdoria, back in 2013.

“I was scared, I am an Albanian, and he is a Serb,” Mustafi said, before confirming those fears were unfounded. “He made me feel safer, I matured with him as a player. Of all the trainers I had, he came in the right moment.

“He is always open in conversation, he especially emphasizes bad things. So (after that season) I deserved a call to the German national team.”

Mustafi ended up making more first-team appearances in 2013/14 than he had in the rest of his senior career up to that point. Then he travelled to the World Cup with Germany, ended up lifting the trophy, and securing a move to Valencia CF.

It’s certainly an example of how football can bring people together in unlikely circumstances. It’s just a shame most of what happened with Arsenal players at the World Cup seemed to do the opposite, particularly in the cases of Granit Xhaka and Mesut Özil.

Hopefully in the future we’ll have more stories like Mustafi’s to tell.