STEVE Clarke has told his Scotland players they will have to go on the offensive if they want to get the result against Spain which secures Euro 2024 qualification here in Seville tonight and urged them to feed off the hostility from the stands in La Cartuja.
The national team, who have won their first five qualifiers for the first time in their history and are currently on top of Group A with three games remaining, only need to pick up a point to clinch their place in the finals in Germany next summer.
Andy Robertson and his team mates could potentially lose to Luis de la Fuentes’ side and still book their spot in the tournament - if third-placed Norway fail to beat Cyprus in the AEK Arena in Larnaca tonight they will go through.
However, Clarke is eager for his men, who have prevailed in their last 11 qualification matches, to achieve their objective with a famous away result against the opponents who they beat 2-0 at Hampden back in March.
“We speak about it as a squad, doing it ourselves in this moment,” he said. “If we don’t do it in this moment, we have two more chances next month, irrespective of what happens in the other games. So let’s do it ourselves, concentrate on ourselves.
“It would be nice to have a celebration on the pitch, but it would also be nice to do that sitting watching it as a group in the hotel if that is what happens. We will be watching the game, the same as Holland against France on Friday.
“We’ve come here for a positive result, without that mentality there is no point in turning up. Let’s try and make it 12 straight qualifying wins. That gives us confidence.”
Spain have scored 13 goals in their last two Euro 2024 qualifiers against Georgia away and Cyprus at home and Clarke believes it would be foolish for Scotland to “park the bus” against their hosts.
“It’s certainly not a night where we are going to come here and think we’re going to camp on the edge of our own 18 yard box and defend for 95, 96, 97 minutes,” he said.
“In that scenario, with the quality they’ve got, you’re going to have to expect that Spain are going to score a goal. We have to be as efficient with the ball, as we were at Hampden. We didn’t have the ball very often that night.
“I think the stats varied somewhere between 25 per cent and 30 per cent possession that we had. But what we did at Hampden is we utilised that possession very well - and that’s what we’re going to have to do again.”
Clarke added: “When we are on the edge of the box we have to defend really well as well. What we have to realise is that we cannot just stay there, we have to go forward. When we have the ball, like we did at Hampden, we have to go and try and show Spain that we are a threat.
“They can’t just think about scoring all the time, they also have to think about defending. That is the thinking behind that message. It is a game we have to be positive in because we want a positive result.
“We are not going to get anything if we sit in I don’t think. There will be times in the game when we have to sit in. Then we have to defend really well. But when we have the ball we have to try and hurt them.”
Spain have an impressive track record in Seville and Scotland are sure to get a hot reception from the home supporters when they take to the field in La Cartuja tonight – but Clarke feels that will bring out the best in the likes of Robertson, Jack Hendry, Callum McGregor, Billy Gilmour, John McGinn and Scott McTominay.
“That’s good, we can thrive on that,” he said. “If you don’t want to play in a game like this then you shouldn’t be a top professional, that’s always my logic, you always want to play against the big teams, in the big games, in the big stadiums and in the big atmospheres.”
