Why prospect of home Euro 2028 thrills Scotland's Billy Gilmour more than most

Billy Gilmour will be approaching his peak years when Euro 2028 comes around.

Not just because, at the age 22, the Brighton playmaker will be approaching his peak years when the UK and Ireland-staged event rolls around in five years. Assuming that Scotland can book their place in this home finals – not all five of the host countries will be granted automatic access – Gilmour will be given the opportunity to scratch an itch come 2028. As a teenage member of Steve Clarke’s squad for the pandemic-delayed Euro 2020 tournament contested in the summer of 2021, playing in a major finals at Scotland’s Hampden abode appeared certain to be ticked off his footballing bucket list – inly for fate to intervene in cruel fashion.

Left on the bench for the group opener lost to the Czech Republic held at the Mount Florida bowl, Gilmour’s man-of-the-match display in the subsequent scoreless draw against England at Wembley made him a shoo-in for the sectional decider with Croatia. However, the then 19-year-old was ruled out after testing positive for Covid-19, leaving him confined to his home as a Luka Modric masterclass consigned Scotland to an early exit at a Hampden drained of its energy as a consequence of the social distance regulations that allowed only 12,000 supporters to attend.

Gilmour fervently hopes everything can be different when the national stadium has its days – and perhaps nights – in Euro 2028. “It will be a lot better this time because it of covid before,” said a Gilmour who rues the fact he “never got the chance” then to perform at Scottish football’s spiritual epicentre. “So, we’ll have a full stadium, the fans in and proper atmospheres, so I’m looking forward to it. It is good for the nation. As I’ll be 27 then, hopefully I’ll still be with Scotland, still getting picked and playing well.”

Gilmour missed out on the final Euro 2020 match against Croatia at Hampden due to Covid.

With Clarke’s men on the verge of qualification for Euro 2024 – avoiding defeat against Spain in Seville on Thursday night would ensure their progress – by 2008, Gilmour could be preparing for a third straight Euro finals. Many of his current Scotland team-mates would hope to be in the same position. If that comes to pass, any player in such a position would break new ground since no performer hailing from this country has appeared in more than two, as it stands. “That would be great, of course, but by then it will be a totally different squad,” said a midfielder who, in racking up 20 caps in the past two-and-a-bit years, could have the potential to break through the century mark. “But we’ve got a lot of younger players coming through. The hope is that we can keep progressing and make sure when these tournaments are coming up that we are always there and competing.”

Clarke’s men have made good on this front in spectacular fashion with five straight wins in Group A. A sixth in Andalusia looks to be asking too much, especially with Spain smarting from their wholly-unexpected 2-0 slaying at Hampden in March. Their catty comments in the aftermath – Rodri’s “rubbish” dismissal of Scotland’s style already having entered footballing folklore in these parts - betray that they will be all-out for atonement this week. Not that Gilmour sounds as if he is quaking over what’s about to hit them.

“They won’t underestimate us again,” he said. “It’s a totally different game. They’re at home but we will be ready for it. We know we will have good backing from the fans over there. We’ll be ready on the night. All through the team, we are a good side, we play football. There’s no reason why we can’t take it to Spain and keep the ball off them. I know they are known for tika taka and all the rest of it. That’s how they play football. We’ll go over there to play our way, which is keeping the ball, trying to score as many goals as possible and, of course, being aggressive.”

As if any more spice needed to be added to the confrontation, Gilmour has a personal extra sprinkle courtesy of his Brighton team-mate Ansu Fati’s late call-up. As with the Scot – only to the power of 10 – monumental claims have been made over the 20-year-old’s career trajectory since before he had even signed his first professional contract with Barcelona, joining their fabled La Masia set-up from the Seville junior ranks aged only 10. Proclaimed the planet’s future best players, four years ago, while still two months from turning 17, he became the Catalan club’s second youngest debutant. His evolution allowed him to make over 100 appearances for Barca before he moved to the English south coast in a one-year loan deal – crucially with no option to buy – just over five weeks ago.

Gilmour rose to prominence with his performance for Scotland against England at Wembley at Euro 2020.

Gilmour sounds as if he would delight in crossing paths with Fati on the international scene, as he did in his Chelsea days in very different circumstances four-and-a-half years ago. “I was asking him back at the club if he was going to go to Spain and he wasn’t sure, but I saw he got a late call up so I just texted him to say ‘see you soon’,” said the Scot. “So, that will be nice, but of course I want to go out there and win. We’ve had good conversations. Of course, I’ve been asking him about Barcelona. And when we played against each other when I was at Chelsea and we played Barca in the semi-finals of the youth Champions League. It was me and Tariq Lamptey that were playing for Chelsea, and he was at Barca, so we were winding him up because Ansu scored a double and we won on penalties … But, no, he’s a really good player, he’s very humble, and you can see that he has great talent. He has been doing well for us and I hope that continues.”

Just not in national colours.

Billy Gilmour was speaking in Glasgow to celebrate the next wave of free McDonald’s Fun Football sessions launching this Autumn. McDonald’s Fun Football is the UK’s largest grassroots participation programme for 5-11 year-olds. Find your nearest free session at www.mcdonalds.co.uk/football