Key events
51 min: Karetsas, the wonderboy, goes close again. Boos from the Tartan Army. Scotland play Greece in the World Cup qualifiers in a four-team group. Ach no!
50 min: James Humphries: “Big Dykes would be much more of a handful for these. Adams runs his lines but Dykes is key for bringing our actual goalscoring threats (ie our midfield) in. Sure, he has no feet, but I will die on the “Dykes fits the system better” hill. “
Sadly, Lyndon Dykes is a pundit and not a player today.
49 min: Justin Kavanagh gets in touch: “It has been said that Tzolakis, the Greek keeper travels with a GIF on his phone of every opponent who might potentially take a penalty against him. This means that even if they bring this tie to penalties, the Scots need to beware of Greeks bearing GIFs tonight.”
They’ll be lucky.
47 min: That was poor from Scotland, excellent from Greece. The visitors have attacked with real venom. Relegation beckons for Scotland.
Goal! Scotland 0-3 Greece (Tzolis, 46) (Agg 1-3)
Scotland kick off slackly and Konstantelias – outstanding – lays up Tzolis to score.
46 min: Back underway in Glasgow, where Scotland need a….
Half-time scores in the Nations League
Hungary 0-2 Turkey
Scotland 1-2 Greece
Serbia 0-0 Austria
Iceland 1-2 Kosovo
Slovenia 0-0 Slovakia
Goalflash! Iceland 1-2 Kosovo (Muriqi, 45+3) (Agg 2-4)
45 min: McTominaay heads down Robertson’s header. Pavlidis has an effort at the other end. That brings a punishing 45 minutes to an end,
43 min: Karetsas’s finish left Craig Gordon with no chance. One of the best young talents in Europe announced himself. He plays for Genk, having been born in Belgium.
Goal! Scotland 0-2 Greece (Karetsas, 42) (Agg 1-2)
Similar to the first goal, Konstantelias this time sets up Karetsas for a beauty. He’s 17, and this was his first start. Greece now lead the tie.
42 min: McTominay, McGinn and Gilmour all link before Christie misfires his pass. Real quality in Scotland’s midfield, but perhaps lacking the striker to get the job done…
40 min: Lovely run from Zafeiris sets up a shot from Mouzakitis. Pavlidis and others were waiting in vain for that one as it whistled into the stands.
38 min: Costas gets in touch: “Greece fielding a 17-year old (Karetsas) and an 18-year old (Mouzakitis), with an average age of the starting eleven at 22. Irrespective of what happens tonight the future looks bright for the white and blues.”
They’ve been decent. Scotland dominating possession but behind.
Goalflash! Hungary 0-2 Turkey (Oguz Aydin, 39) (Agg 1-5)
Goalflash! Hungary 0-1 Turkey (Calhanoglu, 38) (Agg 1-4)
Goalflash: Iceland 1-1 Kosovo (Muriqi, 35) (Agg 2-3)
31 min: Justin Kavanagh gets in touch: “Good to see Scott McTominay sporting a new, very suave and continental haircut. I’m sure the Lawman, a man who spent time in Italy too, and who is said to have inspired Rod Stewart’s famous barnet, would approve.”
John McGinn is the recipient from a fine pass from McTominasio, but the keeper is equal to the task.
30 min: Simon McMahon got in touch: “Afternoon John. Yes, Scotland’s first game at Hampden since the passing of Denis Law. A nice tribute before kickoff with a display in the stands and his granddaughter delivering the match ball. A true icon and legend of Scottish football. Hopefully a result to match tonight…(on Fergie’s part in proceedings) Suddenly got a bit dusty here. A special moment indeed.”
28 min: Greece have managed to push up and stop Scotland. This is a decent team, they beat England, of course, and Greek clubs have been improving in Uefa competitions.
26 min: Free-kick chance for Scotland. It’s wasted. The fans are getting a bit annoyed.
23 min: McTominay has another shot. Scotland still attacking plenty, and that’s where the holes came for the goal.
22 min: Steve Clarke looks like, well. Steve Clarke actually. His team rather cut up there.
Goal! Scotland 0-1 Greece (Konstantelias, 21)
Andy Robertson left isolated, as the ball is played in by Vagiannidis. Too easy.
15 min: That early Scottish blitz has slowed down, but Steve Clarke’s team still dominating.
Beyond that early Iceland goal, it’s been quiet so far.
11 min: Scotland are dominating here, with Wee Billy Gilmour passing the ball with his usual quality and Ryan Christie zipping around.
8 min: Another McTominay shot. He’s fired up. Have Manchester United ever considered this lad?
6 min: On the sidelines, Ivan Jovanović, with that Warhol grey bombshell of a hairdo, is crouched as McTominay is sent away and shoots. Adams can’t pick up the rebound.
4 min: Should Scotland have had a penalty? Che Adams went over in the box but again, waved away. Mavropanos was in all sorts of lumber.
3 min: Early penalty shout for a Greek penalty, waved away. Scott McTominay, his air grown out in the fashion of a Napoli crack player, makes a tackle.
Goalflash: Iceland 1-0 Kosovo (Okarsson, 2) (2-2 aggregate)
Away we go in Glasgow
1 min: The Hampden Roar gets us underway. The BBC coverage is lacking commentary which is fun.
Sir Alex Ferguson is there, leading the tributes to Denis Law by waving his No. 10 shirt. A big handshake and a smile for Steve Clarke. *sob* That was a rather special moment.
Here’s the Flower of Scotland, second verse a capella. One change, Ryan Christie in for Lewis Ferguson, Bournemouth for Bologna, two talent factories where Scottish football is appreciated.
Steve Clarke spoke to the BBC: “Lewis [Ferguson] is really unlucky not to be in the team. I just feel at home, hopefully we start on the front foot and Ryan [Christie] is probably slightly more attacking than Lewis and he can give us something a wee bit different.
“The good thing on the quick turnaround is we’re playing the same team, so it’s very fresh what happened on Thursday. We want to replicate the very good first half for 90 minutes.”
The Scottish fans are singing of the bonny bonny banks of Loch Lomond, of high roads and low roads.
At Hampden, the place he loved so much, as the proudest of Scots, there’s a minute’s appreciation for Denis Law, probably the greatest player his country produced.
An earlier score. Georgia played Armenia and won 6-1, a 9-1 aggregate win.
We start with the 5pm kick-offs, UK time, and this is a big one for Scotland. Greece are very much improved but Stevie Clarke’s team hold a lead. Now, can they do this? Or are we ready for another vale of tears?
Scotland v Greece team news
Scotland: Gordon, Ralston, Souttar, Hanley, Robertson, Gilmour,
McLean, Christie, McTominay, McGinn, Adams. Subs: Kelly,
Slicker, Tierney, Conway, Hendry, Wilson, McKenna, Nisbet,
Hirst, Ferguson, Miller, Johnston.
Greece: Tzolakis, Vagiannidis, Mavropanos, Koulierakis,
Giannoulis, Zafeiris, Mouzakitis, Karetsas, Konstantelias,
Tzolis, Pavlidis. Subs: Vlachodimos, Mandas, Retsos, Masouras,
Ioannidis, Pelkas, Fountas, Rota, Mantalos, Tsimikas,
Galanopoulos, Chatzigiovanis.
Referee: Davide Massa (Italy)
Preamble
Hello, and welcome to our clockwatch of the Nations League quarter-finals. There are four tasty ties here, with some tasty scorelines from the first leg last week.
Spain 2-2 Netherlands
Germany 2-1 Italy
Portugal 0-1 Denmark
France 0-2 Croatia
This is our round-up from the first legs. It’s all to play for, as these eight aim to make the semi-finals.
We’ll also be providing key updates from Scotland v Greece, with that game kicking off at 5pm. The Scots led 1-0 from the first leg and will retain their top-flight status if they avoid defeat at Hampden.
Let’s get into it.
