This close to the miraculous access to the quarter-finals, only Croatia’s draw with Portugal denied the achievement. But all in all the Scotland was able to indulge in the celebrations anyway, given that yesterday’s 2-1 win over Poland ensured that they remained in League A of the Nations League. Liverpool captain and left-back Andrew Robertson headed in John Souttar’s cross in the third minute of injury time, sending Zielinski and his teammates relegated.
The head coach of Scotland, Steve Clarkewill now face a relegation play-off in March against one of the runners-up of the second division, having taken 7 points from their last three games: “The more you play at this level, the better. We started with three defeats, three narrow defeats, but with good performances. The players have not lost faith, I have not lost faith in the players. In the end we have obtained seven points in the last three games, which allows us to enter the play-offs”, the first words reported by The Independent.
The post-match relief: “I’m really happy for the players, for the staff and for the fans. It’s a good way to end this phase of the Nations League, obviously now we have a little more time, as we managed to secure a play-off. I don’t see time to face the matches in March.”
On Robertson’s decisive goal and the unexpected final triumph: “The players didn’t lose faith and I didn’t lose faith in the players. You always believe it. It was a very open game, we gave them a lot of chances. So we felt that maybe another opportunity would come, even if it wasn’t from where it actually came. Fantastic cross from John Souttar, who was brilliant in defence, and also Grant Hanley. A great cross from the captain and a great way to finish the game.” .