McGREGOR DEMANDS MORE RUTHLESSNESS AFTER REACHING HALF-CENTURY FOR COUNTRY

CAPTAIN Callum McGregor picked up his 50th cap in the three-goal Euro 2024 win over Cyprus and insists the next chapter of his Scotland story must involve a greater ruthlessness that takes the country to major competitions on a regular basis.

Steve Clarke’s side were hardly scintillating after taking a firsthalf lead through John McGinn and needed two late goals from Scott McTominay to put the game to bed at Hampden.

That wasn’t lost on McGregor and he is looking for more when Spain come calling in the second game of Group A on Tuesday night.

‘We want to start well and to get three goals and a clean sheet is good,’ said the Celtic midfielder. ‘But it shows where the group is and how much progression we have made that we are starting to look at the finer details.

‘We are looking at the performance and trying to get better in those fine margins as we progress. We want to get better so we can get to the major tournaments and compete.

‘That is modern football. This one has gone. It was good to get three points but now we recover, do our work and try to get the result that would keep us ticking over in the group.’

McGregor, though, admits that reaching such a landmark in terms of appearances will always make yesterday’s match something special.

‘I am proud to get my 50th cap — it was a proud moment,’ he stated. ‘I would have been happy to get one cap in my career, so to get to 50 is a special achievement.’

McGregor was also happy to see Norwich City goalkeeper Angus Gunn come through his debut without any major issues in preparation for an altogether more difficult evening against the Spaniards.

‘Angus is an experienced player and the biggest thing was to get him settled in the group,’ said McGregor. ‘He had a clean sheet and that is perfect for him.

‘Now, we just build from here.’