Former Scottish international insists he'd take John McGinn over Luka Modric

Pat Nevin insists he’d rather have John McGinn in his side than Croatian football legend Luka Modric.
Former Hibs star John McGinn will be looking to shine at this summer's Euros. Picture: SNSFormer Hibs star John McGinn will be looking to shine at this summer's Euros. Picture: SNS
Former Hibs star John McGinn will be looking to shine at this summer's Euros. Picture: SNS

The former Scotland international was speaking on BBC Scotland show A View From The Euros to rate the country’s chances of progressing from a Euro 2020 group which features the finalists from the last World Cup as well as England and the Czech Republic. And he backed the former Hibs ace and current Aston Villa star to outshine his 138-cap Group D rival at this summer’s tournament.

Despite an excellent history in international football since becoming an independent nation, Croatia have yet to defeat Scotland in five matches.

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Three years ago they were beaten by France 4-2 in the final in Russia. Though they remain a daunting prospect, several key players from the previous side are no longer available, including Ivan Rakitić, Vedran Ćorluka and Mario Mandžukić.

They still have a lot of quality in their ranks, including Modric who, at 35, is still playing his club football for Real Madrid.

However, Nevin believes Scotland possess the quality in midfield to more than match Croatia’s most capped ever international player.

He said: "I’m not sure Croatia are the team they used to be.

“I watched the Champions League semi-final recently. McGinn versus Modric? Honestly, I’m now McGinn, all day long.

“Modric is one of my favourite players of the past 20 years. But he’s of an age now where, see if you outrun him, it doesn’t matter how good you are. If we don’t close him down he’ll destroy us, but we will close him down and it’ll be McGinn as part of the team doing that.”

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