THE former captain of Scotland’s national team has said he will be hoping they fail to qualify for the World Cup.
Graeme Souness, the Liverpool and Rangers legend, has said that he will be cheering on Ukraine when the two sides meet.
Scotland are due to play Ukraine on Wednesday, June 1.
The match had originally been scheduled for March but was pushed back following the Russian invasion.
The winners will play Wales for a place at the World Cup finals – in a group alongside England, Iran, and the USA.
Asked about his views on the qualifying matches, Souness suggested that Ukraine should go to the World Cup, admitting the game will be hard on Scotland’s players.
He told The Times: “When I have thought about this game in my quieter moments, I’ve thought, ‘How would I deal with this?’ “Part of me keeps coming back to the fact that it’s just a game of football, and do I really want to beat them? Whether it’s sport, politics, the arts, whatever it is, we must send a message to Russia that it’s not acceptable what they are doing.
“I’m going to find myself in a really difficult situation. I’ll be emotional. I don’t just want Ukraine to qualify, I want them to go there [Qatar] and win it.
"How far do you have to bury your head in the sand not to realise the situation the world’s in right now? Will it be when someone presses the button on a nuclear weapon?
“I’d not want to be one of the Scottish players playing that night. I don’t know where my emotions would be. My emotions when I think about it deeply are that it’s more important than football to send a message that Russia’s behaviour is unacceptable.
"The world has to unite and tell them that – you can hear the emotion in my voice. That’s my over-riding feeling on the situation."
Souness, now a pundit for Sky Sports, added: "I’m doing it for television and I’m not sure how I’ll cope with that. I know the majority of our supporters who go there will feel the same – there you are. It’s going to be a really strange night.”
