Herzog’s painful reminder of meeting Scotland manager

Israel head coach Andreas Herzog has revealed a painful early experience of Scottish football due to Scotland counterpart Alex McLeish.

Herzog played for Rapid Vienna against Aberdeen in the second leg of the Uefa Cup in Austria in September 1989 when he felt the full force of the Dons centre-back.

He had to be substituted as his side won 1-0 to go through 2-2 on aggregate.

Herzog, now 50, recalled his clash with McLeish at his press conference, but with no grudge.

The former Austria midfielder, whose Israel side lost 3-0 to Northern Ireland in a friendly last month to leave them with one win in 10, said: “The coach, Alex McLeish, I played against him as a young player when he played for Aberdeen and I played for Rapid Vienna and in the home game he tackled me from behind so I dislocated my shoulder.

“That was my first experience. It is a long, long time ago but I know the Scottish teams are hard to beat because they have a great mentality.

“I played against them (Scotland) in the under-21 European championships. They were always close games so I expect the same tomorrow.

“But overall, if we have the passion and patience at times to do the right things at the right moment, going forward faster than against Northern Ireland, we will cause some problems for the Scottish back line.”

Herzog, in charge for his first home game since taking over Israel in August, added it is win or bust tomorrow in front of an expected crowd of around 10,000, in a 30,000-plus capacity stadium.