John McGinn hails Scotland 'arrogance' and brands Spain and Georgia 'fortunate' for evading Erling Haaland

Looking at the league table, Scotland currently have the upperhand in Group A of the Euro 2024 qualifiers. But, having faced Norway in the opening two matchdays, it is clear that Spain and Georgia have enjoyed an early advantage of their own.

They lined up against a Norway side missing the obvious influence of Manchester City’s treble winning striker Erling Haaland. That helped top seeds Spain bag their only win thus far, while the draw secured by Georgie provided them with their only point.

As it stands, Scotland will enjoy no similar good fortune and will head into Saturday evening’s head to head with Ståle Solbakken’s men knowing that they will have to be at their best to deny the prolific striker the opportunities he thrives on, while also being alert to he dangers elsewhere in the team.

“He’s certainly a player Georgia and Spain were fortunate to avoid in the last two games,” said Scotland midfielder John McGinn. “He’s obviously one of the world’s best players but alongside that they also have Martin Odegaard who has been one of the key players in the Premier League this season. So it’s not just the case that stopping Halaand means stopping Norway. It’s not as simple as that as they have threats from different areas of the park.

“Both of them have been outstanding players in the Premier League and they are definitely ones we have to keep quiet. But if we’re to try and compete in major tournaments - and compete in pot 2 or pot 1 or division A in the Nations League - then we are going to come up against players like that.”

And the recent performance against Spain has given them belief, according to the Aston Villa captain.

“Certainly, our defence has shown before that it’s capable of keeping top strikers quiet. It might be slightly more difficult with the big man. But we’ll be doing everything we can, to firstly stop the service to him and secondly to do all we can to stop him.”

At club level, McGinn and his colleagues held City to a 1-1 draw at Villa Park despite Haaland scoring. They lost the later match at the Etihad Stadium but they did succeed in snuffing out the Norwegian’s goal menace so he knows, first hand, what Steve Clarke’s men can expect.

Scotland's John McGinn congratulates team-mate Scott McTominay he opens the scoring for Scotland against Spain, at Hampden, in March. Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group

“We’ll respect him, we know what he’s capable of. But obviously we need to focus on what we can do to hurt them because we have players in our squad - who might not be spoken about as much - but are still to be feared.”

That was borne out in their last outing when they stunned Spain and Haaland’s City team-mate Rodri, who was left smarting after the visitors tasted Hampden defeat.

That leaves Scotland top of Group A with a 100 per cent win rate - they also beat Cyprus - and looking to turn the screw in the looming double header away to Norway at the weekend and then at home to Georgia on Tuesday.

“Looking back, I think we were all expecting an easier draw. I know I was excited about being in Pot Two, but I watched the draw and thought: ‘That’s typical of our luck’. But you let that settle in and you think: ‘Right that’s a challenge for us and one we need to take on with confidence’.

“I think we have developed a wee bit of arrogance on the park. Something we didn’t have before so, instead of being fearful of people and teams whether that is individually or as a group, we now come together with full belief we can get results.

“The position we are in is a very good one, but we know with how few games there are in this group, one result could change that. Two wins [in the next two games] will be extremely difficult, we know that. But the two games we had to start were tough and we managed to come through them strongly.”

With a couple of injuries, and a long season behind them, there could be a degree of concern and McGinn, who struggled with form earlier in the season at club level but never experienced the same dip in the dark blue, concedes that, in the past, there probably would have been but there has been a welcome change in the mindset.

“There might have been a bit of a fear factor before. We may have been defeated even before going into that game. But with the experience everyone in our squad has now that’s not the case.

“We have boys playing European football, in big games, against top players. We also have boys down here in England playing against household names week in and week out. So that fear factor naturally goes. You realise you have to treat them like any other player.

“I’ve said that’s an arrogance but I don’t want us to come across as an arrogant group. But there is certainly more confidence and belief which you can see in the performances.”

There is also a togetherness that is a galvanising force and the summer training camp in Spain has reinforced that further.

“But every game has its own challenges and I think we have a nucleus and core of players within the group who have been through enough disappointments to learn from them. We’ve been through enough experiences to try and manage things better.

“Whether that’s during games, before games or after games, we’re certainly racking up caps and experiences. We also have some youthful players coming through to help to add to that. So I think everything is positive. The only thing that’s gone against us at the minute is the injuries we’re picking up.

“It’s slightly worrying for the summer but we’re also proven before that the strength in depth is there. So whoever comes in will be there to do a job.”