World Cup qualifying classics: Scotland 2 - 0 France, 8 March, 1989

Published on 29/08/2012 00:00

This was the story of a Scotsman abroad. Maurice Johnston, once of Partick Thistle, once of Celtic and later of Rangers, had 
become one of the few Scots to not only join a European side but to thrive rather than wither.

Playing for Nantes gave Johnston an insight into French football which he put to good use against Michel Platini’s Les Bleus.

The French were no longer quite the side that won the 1984 European Championship but still possessed talents such as Jean-Pierre Papin, Manuel Amoros, Franck Sauzee and Laurent Blanc. Scotland had some pretty good players too in Richard Gough, Alex McLeish, Stevie Nicol and Paul McStay. A Hampden crowd of over 65,000 saw a magnificent team performance over a shell-shocked French side in heavy rain.

Johnston scored both goals in a match that did much to send Andy Roxburgh’s side to the World Cup finals in Italy the 
following year.