VIDEO: Xherdan Shaqiri 'surprised' at controversial penalty award against Northern Ireland

Xherdan Shaqiri's shot struck Corry Evans in the box on 58 minutes

Xherdan Shaqiri admits he was "surprised" referee Ovidiu Hategan awarded Switzerland a penalty for an apparent handball in their controversial World Cup play-off win over Northern Ireland.

Shaqiri's first-time volley struck Corry Evans in the box on 58 minutes and Ricardo Rodriguez converted the resulting spot-kick to give the Swiss a 1-0 advantage from the first leg at Windsor Park.

Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neil said he was bewildered by the decision and Shaqiri did not appeal for the penalty, while several of his team-mates did.

Northern Ireland were incensed at the decision, which resulted in a 1-0 loss

The Stoke forward said: "I was surprised also that the referee gave a penalty. I don't know what happened in this situation.

"It's difficult to say after the game. I didn't see the position from where I was. I tried to shoot and someone blocked my shot. I will need to see it again but the referee gives the penalty and this is football.

"The other players appealed but it was difficult to see what happened."

Switzerland were arguably the better side for most of the game and Shaqiri believes their opponents "did not do enough" to get something from the first leg.

"I'm very pleased with the performance. I know how tough it is to play here, so many teams have struggled here before," he said.

"I'm very proud of the team, that we took maybe the best result that we could get here. It was a clean sheet and we scored once; that's perfect for us.

"I think Northern Ireland didn't do enough to score because we played very well. We kept the ball for 90 minutes and we had more possession, we tried to create more chances and in the end we deserved to win."

GOAL AND HIGHLIGHTS