Scots looking to be on song in Vienna

Callum McGregor admits it is imperative that Scotland do not lose in Austria if they are to keep their World Cup qualification bid alive.

The Scots sit third in Group F – behind Denmark and Israel – with five games to play, and tonight’s meeting in Vienna is being billed as critical for both nations.

With the Austria clash followed by a home match against Israel next month, McGregor knows the Scots will almost certainly need to take something from their next two fixtures.

The Celtic midfielder said: “It’s a big game, especially after the results the other night, with us getting a positive result and them getting a negative result.

“We’re getting to the point where you’re starting to run out of games, so the next two or three are massive for us.

“You don’t want to look too far ahead, but the nature of qualification is that you try to earmark where you’re going to get the points you need. If we can come away with four points from the next two games, we’re doing well.

“The Austria game is a must-not-lose rather than a must-win.

“A win would be great because it puts us in the best possible position, but, if you want to label it, it’s probably must-not-lose.”

Austria drew 2-2 at Hampden earlier this year then reached the last 16 of Euro 2020 in the summer, so McGregor is paying no attention to the suggestion that Franco Foda’s side have suddenly become dysfunctional in the wake of their 5-2 defeat in Israel on Saturday.

He said: “In football you’re only ever one game away from crisis and supposedly having to tear everything up and start again, but we know that’s not the case with Austria.

“We’ve been to Israel and we know how difficult it is there.

“No doubt they’ll be desperate to bounce back against us and show

everybody they’re not in crisis and still a good team.

“We know they’re a threat from the previous game we played against them and we’ll need to produce a top performance to get a result.

“They’re a very wellorganised team. They don’t usually ship that many goals. Results like that can happen in football.

“We have to try to take advantage of that as much as we can.”

PRIMED: Scotland players train in Edinburgh yesterday ahead of flying out to Austria.