1

Date: September 10, 2018.

Tournament: Nations League.

Venue: Hampden Park.

Result: Scotland 2, Albania 1.

A Berat Xhimshiti own goal and a Steven Naismith header in the second-half got Alex McLeish’s men, bidding to finish top of Group C1 and secure the safety net of a play-off place, off to a perfect start in their bid to reach Euro 2020.

2

Date: October 11, 2018.

Tournament: Nations League.

Venue: Sammy Ofer Stadium, Haifa.

Result: Israel 2, Scotland 1.

It didn’t take long for the positivity of the Albania win to vanish. The national side took the lead in their second Group C1 outing through a first-half Charlie Mulgrew penalty. But after that the hosts ran riot. John Souttar got sent off, Dor Peretz levelled and then Kieran Tierney turned the ball not his own net. Goalkeeper Allan McGregor kept the scoreline respectable with a string of saves.

3

Date: November 17, 2018.

Tournament: Nations League.

Venue: Loro Borici Stadium, Shkoder.

Result: Albania 0, Scotland 4.

The return of Steven Fletcher to the international fray helped Scotland bounce back with a sensational away win. The experienced striker scored a first-half penalty after Ryan Fraser had opened the scoring. James Forrest, who had never been on target in 24 appearances for his country, bagged a double after half-time.

4

Date: November 20, 2018.

Tournament: Nations League.

Venue: Hampden Park.

Result: Scotland 3, Israel 2.

McLeish’s side booked their place in the play-off with an incredible victory. Former Celtic midfielder Beram Kayal put the visitors 1-0 ahead early on. A James Forrest hat-trick looked to have secured victory only for Eran Zahavi to pull one back. Allan McGregor denied Tomer Hemed brilliantly with two minutes remaining to make sure of victory.

5

Date: March 21, 2019.

Tournament: Euro 2020 qualifying.

Venue: Astana Arena, Nur-Sultan

Result: Kazakhstan 3, Scotland 0.

Scotland’s hopes of finishing in the top two of a section that included Belgium and Russia and qualifying for Euro 2020 without having to go through the play-offs were always slim. This dire defeat in their opening Group I match made it nigh on impossible.

Having first Andy Robertson and then Kieran Tierney ruled out manager McLeish’s life difficult. He started Graeme Shinnie, who had experience at left back, in their absence. The Aberdeen midfielder made two errors in first 10 minutes and allowed first Yuriy Pertsukh and then Yan Vorogovskiy to score. A second half Baktiyar Zaynutdinov strike completed a miserable night.

6

Date: October 10, 2019.

Tournament: Euro 2020 qualifying:

Venue: Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.

Result: Russia 4, Scotland 0.

Scotland’s slim hopes of qualifying automatically for Euro 2020 were ended when Russia ran riot in the second-half. Artyom Dzyuba netted twice and Magomed Ozdoyev and Aleksandr Golovin both got on the scoresheet in the space of 27 minutes.

7

Date: October 8, 2020.

Tournament: Euro 2020 play-off semi-final.

Venue: Hampden Park.

Result: Scotland 0, Israel 0 (Scotland win 5-4 on penalties after extra-time).

The national team won the first penalty shoot-out in their history when John McGinn, Callum McGregor, Scott McTominay, Lawrence Shankland and Kenny McLean all netted their spot kicks and David Marshall denied Eran Zahavi.

8

Date: November 12, 2020.

Tournament: Euro 2020 play-off final.

Venue: Rajko Mitic Stadium, Belgrade.

Result: Serbia 1, Scotland 1 (Scotland win 5-4 on penalties after extra-time)

Andy Robertson and his team mates looked set to end a 23 year wat to qualify for the finals of a major tournament on Thursday night as the game entered the final minute. They had bossed their hosts and led through a Ryan Christie strike. But they conceded a goal to Luka Jovic with seconds remaining.

The game went to penalties again. Leigh Griffiths, McGregor, McTominay, Oliver McBurnie and McLean all converted. Marshall denied Aleksandar Mitrovic and finally the nightmare was over.