Tears amid the triumph show that we care, says McGregor

THRUST in front of the cameras and invited to address a jubilant nation, Ryan Chris tie’ s emotional out pouring would have left even the most hardened Scotland fans wiping their eyes.

Struggling to retain his composure after the triumph in Belgrade, the Celtic star admitted to a Sky Sports interviewer that he had ‘gone’ at one point as tears of joy welled up.

Scorer of the goal that pointed us in the direction of our first major finals in two decades, the stuffing had been knocked out of Christie, his team-mates and a captive TV audience back home when Serbia’s Luka Jovic headed that equaliser at the end of regulation time.

Removed from the fray just minutes beforehand, Christie went through every imaginable agony on the sidelines as the Scots battled through extra-time — before sparking ecstatic scenes by winning the penalty shoot-out.

Invited to speak immediately afterwards, it was perhaps no surprise that he struggled to hold it all together after one of the most dramatic nights in Scottish football history.

If anything, it put paid to the notion that international football is little but a distraction for today’s players.

‘Ryan went on TV and cried — but it could have been any one of us,’ said Scotland and Celtic teammate Callum McGregor. ‘Everyone was emotional in the changing room because of the enormity of it all. The lads have dedicated their whole lives for moments like that.

‘You can see what it means when the boys are in tears after the game. Some people probably think the players don’t really care too much about Scotland, but nothing could be further from the truth.’

McGregor (below), who scored the second of five successful penalties, understands what qualification means to so many.

‘As a young kid, this was the sort of thing you dreamed of,’ he said. ‘You want to be the guy who scored to get Scotland to a major tournament. Now that we’ve done it, we can see how the whole country has come together. We’ve taken that weight of expectation and delivered.

‘Back in the day, Scotland was such a big footballing nation. But in the last 20 years we’ve maybe lost that a little bit.

‘I remember watching all the Scotland games on the TV as a kid and everyone was behind the team. Hopefully, we’ve got back to that where everyone is proud to be Scottish.’

Steve Clarke’s men carried out an effective game plan — using Christie and John McGinn to clog up passing lanes, while McGregor and Ryan Jack patrolled central midfield.

‘Everyone did everything the gaffer asked us to do,’ added McGregor. ‘ He was al ways respectful of their good players because they have a lot of quality at the top end of the pitch.

‘But we set up to invite them to play passes into the middle of the park and nick it. That gave us a threat on the counter-attack and caused them problems. The gaffer’s game plan was first class. And the players carried it out to the letter.

‘I could tell, coming together on Sunday, that the group knew there was a real chance for us.

‘When Serbia scored to make it 1-1, I thought :“It’ s typical Scotland”. We were a minute away from qualifying.

‘But it’s a sign of this group that we can react to things going against us. It was a big knock but we all felt we could still win. By that stage, I think both teams were happy to take it to a shoot-out.

‘All the l ads who took the penalties were speaking about it at breakfast this morning. We all agreed there was a sense of calmness within the five of us.

‘ You just have to trust your technique and hope for the best. We had worked on them in training all week. After every session, everyone would take a penalty. I’ve not missed one in the last two camps. I felt comfortable. ‘Of course it’s different when the pressure is on. You just need to be brave and step up. And we had Marsh (David Marshall) there to make a brilliant save. We all had him to thank for that.’