Celtic stars brief Israel on Scotland dangermen

ISRAEL boss Willi Ruttensteiner is hoping his team’s Celtic connections can inspire them to a Nations League upset against Scotland tonight. Hibs keeper Ofir Marciano and Parkhead pair Nir Bitton and Hatem Abd Elhamed are all key members of the squad to face Steve Clarke’s side at Hampden. After allowing the Scottish Premiership-based trio to brief their team-mates on the threats posed by the Scots, Ruttensteiner is looking to get a fine result behind closed doors to take into next month’s crucial Euro 2020 play-off semi-final at the same venue. ‘The Scottish-based players held the team meeting yesterday because they know the opposition much better than me,’ said the Austrian, who replaced predecessor Andreas Herzog last month due to Covid-19 cost-cutting. ‘They have all the information, so that is much better than watching a video. ‘We have spoken a lot about the Scotland team as they have a lot of players who play in the top league here. ‘There are eight or nine who play in the Premier League and the Championship in England, too. ‘We have a great deal of motivation to go and beat them and having no crowd is a small advantage for us. I’ve been here with Austria before and, if Hampden is full, the fans are like the 12th player on the pitch. Our goals are clear. We want to win this and then win the semi-final in October.’ Israel’s £12million striker Moanes Dabour is confident his side can triumph in their double-header in Glasgow. The Hoffenheim forward said: ‘Of course we are expecting two very difficult games at Hampden but I personally don’t think there is much between us and Scotland. ‘I certainly don’t believe we will lose any of the two games in Glasgow. ‘I think beautiful things can be done in this campaign and we all believe in it. ‘I agree that next month’s game against the Scots is the more important one, but we are launching a campaign and it is important to start it on the right foot. ‘And we can put down a marker by beating Scotland in the first game. I think we have a lot of reason for optimism. ‘I think everyone knows we have to tighten up defensively because we lost too many goals in the last campaign. ‘But attacking-wise, we are very good indeed and we rarely have problems scoring goals.’