Former Scotland manager Alex McLeish feels Steve Clarke’s team can handle the challenge of facing a hurting Spain.
Spain were reeling at Hampden in March after suffering a 2-0 defeat and some players hit out at Scotland’s tactics and even the length of the Hampden grass.
But Scotland only need a point in Seville on Thursday to qualify for Euro 2024 after winning their first five qualifiers.
McLeish, who was at Hampden to promote Viaplay’s coverage of the game, said: “It’s difficult to go to Spain, especially after the Spanish becoming a bit aggressive in some of their comments after the game. You would think they would probably be upping the gear a wee bit.
“It’s a tough game for us but the way this team are playing, it’s something we can do and get at least the point we require.
“But certainly Spain will have the motivation to try and leave us pointless.”
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Spain captain and Manchester City midfielder Rodri was especially critical, calling Scotland’s approach “rubbish” and accusing his opponents of time-wasting, provocation and going down too easily.
McLeish said: “If he didn’t think that performance was good, let’s have that same type of performance. After all, we beat them handsomely and if we play as bad as that again, I think we will be quite happy.”
The former Aberdeen defender was part of a Scotland team that lost 1-0 in Seville in a World Cup qualifier in 1985 after earlier beating Spain 3-1 at Hampden, thanks to a double from Maurice Johnston and a memorable strike from Sir Kenny Dalglish.
McLeish felt Scotland’s Hampden victory had hurt the Spanish team’s pride.
“Yeah, I think it did and I guess that’s what this current Spain team will be thinking as well, that ‘we had a bit of a spat with them over there, verbally in the media, as well as not liking the pitch or whatever’, and they will be fired up big time,” he said.
“The Spanish will have that extra motivation.
“It’s a tough game but we are well aware of that, and what this Scotland team have done in recent times has been fantastic.”
Alex McLeish was promoting Viaplay’s live and exclusive coverage of Spain v Scotland. Viaplay is available to stream from viaplay.com or via your TV provider on Sky, Virgin TV and Amazon Prime as an add-on subscription.
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