Runaway Mueller gets Swiss berth

Patrick Mueller's decision to leave Olympique Lyon without permission to play for his national team last week was rewarded yesterday with a place in Switzerland's final 23-man Euro 2008 squad.

Mueller, 31, made the final cut but Switzerland coach Koebi Kuhn axed fellow defender Mario Eggimann and striker Thomas Haeberli from the 25-man provisional squad that has been training in Lugano for the past 10 days.

Mueller, who played just one first-team match for French league champions Lyon last season, left the club on the eve of Saturday's French Cup final because he wanted to play in a Swiss friendly against Slovakia on the same day to prove his fitness.

The central defender tore a cruciate knee ligament in December but was in commanding form during Switzerland's 2-0 friendly win on Saturday.

Switzerland, who will co-host Euro 2008 along with neighbouring Austria, will play one more warm-up match against Liechtenstein tomorrow.