STEVE Clarke named his 26 man Scotland squad for next month’s Euro 2020 finals yesterday – and immediately challenged his players to become legends by reaching the knockout rounds for the first time in their history.

Clarke sprang a number of surprises when he handed uncapped trio Billy Gilmour of Chelsea, Nathan Patterson of Rangers and David Turnbull of Celtic call-ups and left out Andrew Considine of Aberdeen, Ryan Gauld of Farense, Leigh Griffiths of Celtic and Liam Palmer of Sheffield United.

However, he is confident he has the talent, youth, experience and strength in depth that he needs to do well in the Group D matches against the Czech Republic and Croatia at Hampden and England at Wembley next month.

The Scotland players became national heroes when they defeated Serbia on penalties in the Euro 2020 play-off final in Belgrade back in November and ended a 23 year wait to reach the finals of a major tournament.

Now former Newcastle United, Chelsea and Liverpool assistant Clarke is determined for them to do something that no other team from this country has in either the European Championships or World Cup in the past – and make it through the knockout rounds.

The top two teams in each section will go through to the last 16 of the competition along with the four best-placed third placed sides and the Scotland manager is confident.

“Listen, they were all heroes when they came out of Serbia, they were fantastic and everything was great,” said Clarke.  “But if we become the first men’s team to qualify for the knock-out stages of a major tournament they can be legends, so why not aim for that?

“Yes, of course, it’s quite a motivation. But becoming the first group of players to qualify for 23 years was also a massive motivation and they managed to do that.

“So let’s go into the tournament this summer, let’s be really competitive and let’s give everything to get out of the group and into the knock-out stages for the first time. That would be fantastic.”

He added: “It is always important to try and be as competitive as you can be. I feel the group has grown in stature. The more caps you get the more international experience you get the more confidence you get with the results against the bigger and better teams. Hopefully in the summer we can go and cause a few problems to the other teams in the group.

“We will go there with the intention of get out the group, of course. There is no point in going there if you are just going there to make up the numbers. We are going there to be as competitive as we can be.

"If that gets us enough points to get out of the group and get into the knockout stage then, like I said before, the lads can become legends.”