Former St Mirren star John McGinn believes Spain won’t be looking forward to their trip to a sold-out Hampden Park this evening.
Tonight’s clash is set to be a cracker with the Tartan Army hoping to roar their heroes on to a famous win against the Group A favourites.
McGinn, who came through the Ralston youth academy and helped the Buddies bag the League Cup in 2013, scored Scotland’s opener against Cyprus on Saturday in an important 3-0 win.
The Aston Villa midfielder believes his country can pull off a shock result against the Spaniards but admits they’ll need to up their game to have a chance of picking up another three points in Glasgow.
McGinn said: “I’m delighted to get on the scoresheet again, but I just wanted anyone to break the deadlock.
“These games can be difficult if you take too long to get the first goal.
“It was good get to the early goal but after that we didn’t really build on it, which was frustrating.
“We need to be honest, if we want to get to the Euros we need to improve. If we want to move to the next level, we need to be better and we felt that walking off.
“We need to be brighter, we were a bit flat. I am being a bit picky as we won 3-0, but it was one of those days where it could have been 1-1.
“Maybe I am being harsh on us. There is plenty to improve on but we have ended the hoodoo from the last few campaigns and started off with a win.
“As much as we know we can improve on the performance, that’s a big three points.
“We are getting greedy – we want the performance and the result but the main thing is the win.
“We will give it a go against Spain and we are confident. They won’t want to play us in the vein of form we are in, especially at home.
“We will make it difficult for them, we will have our chances and we just need to take them.”
McGinn also admitted it felt “surreal” to have overtaken boyhood hero James McFadden as he moved up to seventh in Scotland ’s all-time scoring charts.
The 28-year-old netted his 16th international goal against Cyprus, taking him ahead of McFadden who was a talisman for Scotland when the former Saints midfielder was younger. McGinn is now seventh in the all-time rankings as he closes in on Kenny Miller (18) and Ally McCoist (19).
McGinn added: “He is somebody I watched growing up. I wanted to be James McFadden when I was a Scotland fan growing up so to surpass him is a bit surreal, a bit weird. I’m obviously delighted.
“In the house, I’m looking up the scoring charts but when I get here I’m just focused on trying to get us to the Euros.”
He continued: “No matter who scores, I’m delighted, but I do have my eye on it.
“Obviously you dream about being alongside those guys at the top.“
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