IN the Mel Brooks comedy Robin Hood: Men In Tights, the eponymous hero wins the day at the end of the movie by defeating the wicked Prince John in a duel and winning the hand of the fragrant Maid Marian.

Will donning the exactly the same garb as the legendary outlaw ensure that Kieran Tierney is successful in his quest to be fit for the England game tomorrow night and is able to help Scotland to slay their ancient adversaries?

The Arsenal player is certainly hopeful. 

The defender, who missed the opening Group D match against the Czech Republic at Hampden on Monday due to a calf strain that he picked up in training, has gone to great lengths in order to make the match at Wembley.

He has had no qualms about donning a pair of full-length compression tights to aid his recovery. As he spoke to the media at the national squad’s base outside Darlington yesterday after taking part in a training session, he confessed to feeling ridiculous in his attire. But if he recovers and is available for selection it will be worth it.  

Asked if he would whatever was required to be in the starting line-up in north London, Tierney said: “Aye, 100 per cent. Me wearing a pair of tights shows you that. Why am I wearing tights?”

Getting a result, even a draw, against Gareth Southgate’s side, will help to revive the hopes that Steve Clarke’s team had of making the knockout rounds before Euro 2020 got underway.

Tierney, the former Celtic left back who has excelled since being moved into a left centre half berth by Clarke, is desperate to play his part.  

“It’s a big game,” he said. “No doubt about it, there is no hiding it. They are a world class team as well. We are going down there and we are going to do our very, very best. Hopefully we can pull together a good performance.

“We haven’t been here in 23 years. I’d say we believe, but we can always believe more. I mean belief in terms of we are going into the last two games, not belief that we are good players.

“Belief that we can still go through, belief that we can still have a good tournament is important going into the last two games. These are going to be tough games (Scotland play Russia 2018 finalists Croatia in the final match in their section in Glasgow on Tuesday) against tough, tough opposition.”

Watching Andy Robertson and his team mates slump to a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Jaroslav Silhavy’s side was excruciating. But he is looking forward, not back. He is confident they can put the reverse behind them and achieve their objective of a place in the knockout rounds. 

“I probably felt 10 times worse than everyone, honestly,” he said. “But that’s what you need to deal with in football. You get ups and downs. This was a down. I need to count myself lucky, there is a lot worse things going on and a lot worse things that can happen. I’m just doing my best to be fit for Friday night.

“There wasn’t much in it between the teams, I would say. We wanted to do better, we wanted a better result, we wanted a good start to the tournament. Unfortunately we didn’t but looking at the two teams, you need to fancy our chances. We are here for a reason. We need to believe in ourselves more, I think, as well.

“Everyone in that changing room has had a bad result before. You can’t get too down. We had chances, as well. It’s just tournament football. We never got the result but we have two games left and you never know what can happen.”

Tierney has flourished since moving to Arsenal in a £25m transfer from Celtic back in 2019. He helped the Emirates Stadium club to win the FA Cup last year and is now widely regarded as one of the best left backs in England, if not the world. Scotland will benefit hugely if he is on the park at kick-off given his experience down south. 

Certainly, squaring up to England striker Harry Kane and playing at Wembley will hold no fears for the boy from Wishaw.

“He’s world-class,” he said. “I think anyone can see that and anyone who watches football knows that. He’s so clinical, he can do anything. He can go behind, go short. It’ll be a tough game.

“I’ve played there (at Wembley) a couple of times, fortunately for Arsenal there have been some good results we’ve had there. If I can keep that going I’ll be delighted.

“You need to believe, you need to go down there with a gameplan to do well and that’s what we have been working on in training. We have another day’s training to look forward to before the game.

“It probably suits us that we’re underdogs. We’re going to go down there and fight for everything. It’s a derby. It’s a big rivalry in football. We’re looking forward to it. There is no doubt about it, we’re really looking forward to this game.”

The television coverage of the Euro 2020 finals has reminded many Scotland fans why they dislike England so much. Their World Cup win in 1966 has received an occasional mention. But Tierney knows that he and his team mates will be fired up for the encounter with the auld enemy regardless.

“I haven’t seen it, to be honest,” he said. “Whoever watched it might use it as motivation, but I don’t think there is one person in the dressing room that needs motivation to be honest. I wouldn’t worry what other people are saying.”

There will only be a limited number of Scotland fans in the 25,000-strong crowd at Wembley due to Covid-19 social distancing restrictions. But Tierney was impressed with the noise the Tartan Army made against the Czech Republic. He thinks the supporters will make a huge difference.

“The supporters believed, right to the last kick of the ball,” he said. “From what I heard the atmosphere was brilliant at the start of the game and that is what you need. Going to Wembley, I’m sure the Scotland fans that are there will be heard as well and will help us. Going into the last game the fans will help us.”