FIRM FRIENDS ON SCOTLAND DUTY
RYAN JACK insists Old Firm rivalries are always left at the Scotland door after England’s latest camp was disrupted by a bitter club dispute.
Raheem Sterling will be left out of the Three Lions’ Euro 2020 qualifier against Montenegro on Thursday after an altercation with Liverpool defender Joe Gomez.
The pair clashed towards the end of Manchester City’s 3-1 Anfield defeat to Liverpool on Sunday and reports suggested Sterling and Gomez were again involved in an exchange bust-up after meeting up for England duty.
Jack, the only Rangers player in Steve Clarke’s squad for the final Euro 2020 qualifying doubleheader against Cyprus and Kazakhstan, met up with Celtic’s James Forrest,
Callum McGregor, Greg Taylor and Ryan Christie, as well as the other Scotland players, at their hotel in Edinburgh.
The Glasgow giants are neck and neck in an increasingly tense battle for supremacy in the Premiership.
However, Jack insists the age-old rivalry is parked during international breaks as the focus switches to uniting for the national cause. The midfielder said: “It has to be left at the door.
“There is no doubt that we all fight and battle on the pitch and we all want to win every game.
“But when we turn up we are team-mates, we train hard together and we play for each other. You play against players every week that you join up with on international duty.
“We turn up here, we are a team, we are together and we all want the same goal which is to win these two games and hopefully get Scotland to a major tournament.”
Asked if he had encountered anything similar to Sterling v Gomez in the Scotland squad, assistant coach Alex Dyer laughed and said: “We all love each other. It’s lovely here, we don’t have any fights among us.”