With only a few hours to go before Scotland take on Serbia in the Euro 2020 play-off final, Celtic captain and former Scotland skipper Scott Brown has sent a rallying cry to the players on Celtic’s Instagram account.
“All the best to all the Scotland players tonight and the backroom staff as well, the full nation is behind you. Come on lads, let’s do it, make yourself legends. All the best” Brown said.
Keen for Scotland to end wait
Brown of course retired from international football back in 2018, but he is obviously looking forward to the game, and keen for Scotland to end the 23-year wait to qualify for an international tournament.
There will be some Celtic players taking part in the fixture. Four players are in the squad, with two all but guaranteed to start the game – Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie. The two other Celts in the squad – Greg Taylor and Leigh Griffiths – will likely start on the bench.
Brown might well have spoken to those players before they headed off to Serbia for the play-off. In his time with Scotland the Hoops captain didn’t reach a World Cup or European Championship. Perhaps he told the Celtic contingent that they will become legends if Scotland can reach the Euros next summer.
An expert in motivation
Brown is of course an expert in motivation – you only need to look at how passionate he can get in the Celtic huddle for an example of that.
He might well have given words of motivation to Griffiths, Taylor, McGregor and Christie ahead of the match, maybe even today, over the phone. That won’t be as good as Brown speaking to the players in person, but you imagine that he can still get the message through.
Should Scotland get the win, hopefully it is a Celtic player that ends up as the hero. Not only would it give the player plenty of confidence, but it could also show how effective Brown’s words were.
In other news, Charlton are set to offer Celtic target Alfie Doughty a new contract.
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