Motherwell's Declan Gallagher intends to be on the money for Scotland after Celtic examination

The need to be on the money against Serbia is not lost on Declan Gallagher.
Declan Gallagher is congratulated by Scotland manager Steve Clarke (right)  after helping the country to a third consecutive clean sheet in last month's 1-0 win over the Czech Republic (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)Declan Gallagher is congratulated by Scotland manager Steve Clarke (right)  after helping the country to a third consecutive clean sheet in last month's 1-0 win over the Czech Republic (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)
Declan Gallagher is congratulated by Scotland manager Steve Clarke (right) after helping the country to a third consecutive clean sheet in last month's 1-0 win over the Czech Republic (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

And the Motherwell defender maintains he will not be scared by price tags or reputations as he seeks to make good on a “once in a lifetime” chance to help propel Scotland to a first major finals since 1998. Gallagher believes he goes into Thursday’s Euro 2020 play-off final in the Red Star Stadium with full knowledge of exactly what is required to shackle top talent following Celtic’s 4-1 win at Fir Park.

“I was playing against a £5million player on Sunday [in Albian Ajeti]. Then Odsonne Edouard came off the bench as well, which was tough,” said the 29-year-old. “Someone then said my next game is against Aleksander Mitrovic, who is a Premier League striker for Fulham. There’s also Luka Jovic, who plays for Real Madrid. So it doesn’t get any easier, does it? “But these are the games you live for and the games you want to play in as a professional footballer. Especially a player who is playing for Motherwell, because we don’t get these opportunities very often.

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“I feel confident about the game. We’ve been on a good run, that’s eight games unbeaten, so we have to go into this game with full confidence. There’s no point sitting back, being nervous and dwelling on it. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for some boys so we have to give it our all.

“Keeping three clean sheets in the last camp was massive for us. That’s given us something to build on and hopefully we can do the same again in Serbia. If we can keep a clean sheet at one end we have the players at the other end to get us the victory. It’s going to be tough.

“They have world class players and the game is obviously being played in Serbia. I would think that makes it harder. But we have a really good team and we know what we have to do. We’ll have a game plan and we’ll stick to it to hopefully win the game and get through to the finals.”

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