Lyndon Dykes has opened up on how Steve Clarke set up Scotland to combat the Spanish threats and secure an historic win at Hampden.
Two goals from Scott McTominay were enough for Scotland to pick up three points at Hampden and get off to the perfect start in Group A for Euro 2024 qualifying. The Manchester United man struck after just seven minutes to shock the Spanish side. He then grabbed a second six minutes after half-time to give Scotland six points from six.
Dykes, who started in place of Che Adams after he picked up an injury in the 3-0 win over Cyprus on Saturday, revealed Clarke gave the QPR man a special role to disrupt the Spanish playing out from the back. Manchester City midfielder and Spain captain Rodri was given special treatment by Clarke and Dykes was tasked with carrying it out. And it clearly worked as Rodri revealed his anger at Scotland's tactics in his post-match interview.
Dykes told TalkSport: "We done a lot on the training ground, we started well against Cyprus in the 3-0 there and we knew Spain was going to be a different challenge. The players they have, they are world class players.
"We knew they were going to have a lot of possession of the ball. We had to work hard that's what it came down to, we had to work as a team and we had to show we had character. We made it hard for them and that's exactly what we done. We had that mid-block, personally my role was to block off Rodri in the middle and make sure he doesn't control the game.
"Everyone had their roles that the manager wanted and I think everyone done it to a tee."
Speaking after the game, Rodri said: "It's the way they play. You have to respect at the end but for me it's a bit rubbish because it's always wasting time. They provoke you and they always fall.
"This for me is not football. For the speed of the sport you have to move on, but the referee has to take part of this and he says nothing. It was frustrating because we want to win and it's difficult because they waste time, waste time. But it is what it is. They have their weapons and we have our weapons and we will learn for the next time."
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