Belly-flopping fans inspired John Mcginn
John Mcginn saw footage of a barechested Scotland fan sliding 10 yards through a puddle in central London.
That was the point he knew he and his team-mates had to finally make a splash at Euro 2020.
The midfielder tried to take an afternoon nap ahead of Friday night’s clash with England, but could not switch off. Instead, he soaked in the enormity of the occasion by watching clips of the Tartan Army making their presence felt in the English capital.
The lucky 2,700 Scotland fans who got Wembley tickets also made their voices heard pre-match, and Mcginn was determined to reward them for their support.
He said: “I normally like to get an afternoon kip when the game kicks off at eight o’clock. But the excitement of the occasion was hard to ignore.
“When you see people doing belly flops in Leicester Square, you just want to get going and do the country proud.
“We were all hurting on Monday when we didn’t give the nation a lift.
“It’s not a win, but it was certainly a performance to be proud of.
“We left everything on the pitch, and were possibly a little bit hard done-by to only come away with a point.
“But you have to be respectful that England are a great team.
“We definitely stifled them. We certainly made it difficult for them.
“It was a performance to be proud of and I’m sure the whole country will be saying the same thing.
“I think there was a slight overreaction to Monday’s performance,” Mcginn said.
“We had the Czech Republic penned in for long spells and we lost goals at difficult times. But I don’t think we played badly.
“Having Billy (Gilmour) and KT (Kieran Tierney) in the team at Wembley, two top-class players, maybe helped, I’m not sure. But it felt really comfortable.”
Mcginn lined up against Villa teammates Tyrone Mings and Jack Grealish, and his club colleagues were surprised by the performance of their opponents.
“I caught up with Jack and Tyrone after the game,” Mcginn said. .
“It was strange playing against them. They are two top players and thankfully we managed to keep them a little bit quiet.
“They were saying they expected us to be a little bit more direct, but we showed we can play a different style.”