Key events
One bit of expected news: Kieran Tierney is injured, so Scott McKenna takes his place on the left side of central defence. One piece of slightly surprising news: Billy Gilmour is benched, in favour of Ryan Christie, who was a rare plus point from the England match and gives the midfield more of an attacking flavour. The other change from the game against England: Lyndon Dykes in for Ché Adams.
The teams
Spain: Unai Simón, Carvajal, Le Normand, Laporte, Balde, Gavi, Rodrigo, Merino, Torres, Oyarzabal, Morata.
Subs: Kepa, Raya, Sancet, Pau Torres, Fabián Ruiz, Zaragoza, Joselu, García, Ansu Fati, Zubimendi, Fran García, Jesús Navas.
Scotland: Gunn, Hickey, Hendry, Porteous, McKenna, Robertson, McGregor, McTominay, McGinn, Christie, Dykes.
Subs: Kelly, Clark, Souttar, Cooper, Adams, Gilmour, Armstrong, Brown, Ferguson, Taylor, Patterson, McLean.
Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (Netherlands).
Preamble
Scotland are so close, yet so far. They’ll become the first team to qualify for Euro 2024 if they draw with Spain in Seville tonight, or if Norway fail to win in Cyprus. However, those are big ifs.
If.
If.
See?! Cyprus have lost all of their matches in Group A so far, shipping 17 goals at a rate of 3.4 a game, and this evening will have Erling Haaland bearing down on them. Spain have bounced back from their Scott-McTominay-infused defeat at Hampden by ramming seven past Georgia and six past the aforementioned Cypriots. Meanwhile Scotland are coming off the back of a no-show at the 150th Anniversary Heritage Match against England. So none of that’s ideal.
On the flip side, Scotland are on a run of five straight wins in Group A. They’re nine unbeaten in competitive fixtures, a sequence that featured promotion to the top tier of the Nations League. And perhaps most importantly of all, you can never write off any team that boasts the aforementioned goal machine McTominay. Never. Ask anyone from Batumi to Barcelona to Brentford about that. You just can’t.
So fingers crossed. And if anyone in dark blue can score a goal even half as good as the one David Narey managed across town at the Benito Villamarín during Copa Mundial de la Fifa España 1982™, so much the better. Kick off is at 7.45pm BST, 8.45pm at the Estadio La Cartuja de Sevilla. It’s on!