Celtic youngsters David Turnbull, Stephen Welsh, and Ross Doohan are just 90 minutes away from making history ahead of their clash in Greece today.
This afternoon’s contest between Scotland and Greece in the under-21 Euro qualifiers could see the young Scots qualify for a European championship for the first time in 24 years.
Indeed, the last time the young Scots made the Euros was all the way back in 1996. That means not one of the players involved in the squad this time around will have been alive during that 1996 competition.
But it’s looking extremely positive for Turnbull and co ahead of this evening’s clash.
Scotland sit second in their Euro qualifying group. A win against Greece and they’ll top it – securing their spot at Euro 2021. A draw or a defeat and it’s likely they’ll miss out, given Croatia will be in a good position to overtake them with a win at home to Lithuania today.
Should Scotland fail to beat Greece and Croatia fail to take advantage, the Scots would go into a playoff against one of the other group runners-up.
A chance for some tremendous headlines for the Celtic trio
What Welsh, Turnbull, and Doohan all have in common is that they’re not considered part of Celtic’s strongest XI. Doohan is actually out on loan at Ross County this season, and has only recently started to get minutes with the Staggies after a slow start to the season.
However, if the likes of Welsh and Turnbull are selected this afternoon and put in a positive shift, it’ll give Neil Lennon something to think about. In a way, they can use their time away on international duty to send a message to their club boss.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that any of the current starlets based at Lennoxtown will actually start. Both Welsh and Turnbull were unused substitutes in the 2-2 draw against Croatia last week. Only Doohan played the full 90 minutes, but he had no chance with either of Croatia’s efforts.
However, what that game against Croatia did highlight was that Scotland could do with some extra punch both at the back and in the midfield. Welsh has come up against international strikers already this season such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and also dealt well with Alfredo Morelos.
Turnbull, meanwhile, has already proven his worth at Motherwell. Had he stayed at Fir Park and had still been playing regularly, he likely would’ve been in Scot Gemmill’s side from the start against Croatia. Hopefully, he gets called on this afternoon.
Doohan, meanwhile, is almost a cert to be handed the gloves for the crucial clash in Greece tonight. Hopefully, the Celtic contingent can all play their part and send Scotland under-21s to end their 24-year drought.
In other news, an English club has reportedly moved to stop a potential Celtic January plan.
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