Scotland legends Kenny Dalglish and Alex McLeish preview Spain vs Scotland

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Scotland legends Kenny Dalglish and Alex McLeish preview Spain vs Scotland at Glasgow’s Hampden Park.

Transcript

00:00 So here we are outside Hamden Park just a couple of days before Scotland's latest Euro

00:06 2024 qualifier against Spain in Seville. Steve Clark's side of course requiring just one

00:12 point to rubber stamp their ticket to Germany in next summer's European Championship finals.

00:20 We've been speaking this afternoon to Kenny Dalglish and Alex MacLeish, a former Scotland

00:25 manager of course, to get their thoughts ahead of the game. Declan, some interesting chat

00:31 we had this afternoon. Firstly, let's talk a bit about the game coming up. Spain, of

00:36 course, we know we beat them at Hamden. There was a couple of comments made by Rodri in

00:41 particular that were rather controversial. Do you feel that this will be a kind of rejuvenated

00:46 Spain side? Are they really up for this game going into it? I think they need to be, Lewis.

00:50 They find themselves in a bit of a precarious position in the group. Spain, I don't think

00:55 they're expected to be where they are yet. Obviously, they can still qualify for the

00:58 tournament. But, you know, we gave them a bit of a bloody nose here all those months

01:02 ago. You could see from the reaction after it, they weren't happy with the way we played

01:06 football. We know from talking to Kenny and Alex in there, they said, you know, if it

01:11 worked then why not try it again in Seville? So we'll see what happens. But I think, as

01:18 Kenny said, you just can't underestimate Spain. Even with his home country, he wasn't

01:24 too keen to say that Scotland were going to win the game. Here is a clip of what Kenny

01:29 said to us earlier this afternoon.

01:32 It doesn't matter whether you finish first or second, does it? And it doesn't matter

01:36 if you get beat by Spain, although you don't want to get beat. Spain have got you playing

01:41 normally. So they both can't win. So although you look at the Spanish game, you think it

01:48 might be decisive, it's not really. Norway can sort their own problems out when they

01:53 play Spain in the next midweek. I think 15 points out of 15. It sounds strange when you

02:03 say you can't beat it. You can't beat it. You can't beat it. So I think they'll be a

02:10 bit of a nice to the game as well, after some of the statements made here. After they get

02:15 beat, Spain can beat. So just concentrate on the game and see what you get. And if you

02:22 don't get any points, it's no disaster, is it?

02:26 I don't think I'd ever like anybody to beat Spain in Spain, especially Sevilla. That's

02:31 one of their favourite players, big places for playing. So the last time I think Scotland

02:38 was there, David Neyley scored an upset at the Brazilians. We could beat 4-1. Spain are

02:48 a fantastic team and they won't be far away from winning it if they get through the second.

02:54 It's a tough game for us to go against Spain, we know that. But the way this team are coping,

03:02 it's something that we can do and get at least the point we require. But you'd have to think

03:13 that Spain will be out in a, I don't quite call it revenge, but certainly they'll have

03:20 the motivation to try and leave us pointless for this one. So it's a really tough game,

03:29 but great memories of myself playing against the Spanish with the wish to do nothing but

03:38 a particular night here at home.

03:40 I think the quality of the player that he's had available has improved as well. Just at

03:47 the weekend there, you've got Lewis Ferguson playing against Inter Milan and getting rave

03:52 reporting. The boys are spreading out, they've been in Belgium, they're spreading out more

03:58 and there's more in the Premier League now than England can take part than what we had

04:03 before. So it's moved on with the numbers since he's come in. But it's an experience

04:11 game, it depends what experience you've had. The boys have had five wins in a row, that's

04:16 a fantastic experience, so they'll all be looking forward to it.

04:20 Kenny also spoke to us about his memorable goal in the World Cup qualifier. The Scotland

04:25 3-1 win over Spain back in 1984. That was a rather interesting night at Hampden to say

04:32 the least. Of course Alex McLeish also spoke about that being part of the experience. They

04:36 both shared their memories from the match. This is obviously a much changed Spanish side

04:41 that we face now, a very young Spanish team, Declan. Do you think the Spanish side needs

04:48 an injection of maybe a wee bit of additional experience to this squad?

04:52 Possibly. It's certainly not the side that went on to win the World Cup and the Euros

04:56 all those years ago, but listen, they're still great quality. Within the side, we've obviously

05:01 got two games here, France following Spain, the friendly. It was interesting to get Kenny's

05:07 take on that England game here last month. Obviously that brought to an end a great unbeaten

05:12 one for Steve Hart's side, which I think stretches all the way back to getting beaten Dublin

05:17 from Ireland over a year ago. So it was interesting to hear that, but on the Spanish side, as you'll

05:25 hear Kenny McLeish talking, we know we're up against a challenge here and how far this

05:32 group has come. Here is that memorable goal and Kenny's reflections of that historic

05:39 night at Hampden.

05:41 I remember we won 3-1 and the goal was down here at, I don't know if they still call it

05:49 the Celtic end, was it? It was the Celtic end, they might call it the Tory Glen end now.

05:56 No, it was a big game for us that night as well and they were strong at that time.

06:05 I just couldn't pay a throw in I think. We just hit it and it went in. I think we were

06:14 1-2-0 and they scored, Camacho scored I think. He got booked early on as well. He did the

06:22 test. I don't remember, but I remember 3-1 and enjoying it.

06:30 I guess that's what this current Spain team will be thinking as well. We had a wee bit

06:38 of a spat with them over there verbally in the media as well as not liking the pitch

06:46 or whatever. You would think they would be fired up big time. It was a tough game for

06:53 us but we're well aware of that. You would think that the Spanish would be favoured being

07:03 on their own ground. What the Scotland team have done in recent times has been fantastic

07:11 and we've not seen it for a long, long time. If they're capable of doing what they've done

07:21 in recent times, they're capable of getting something here. It's a very tough game for

07:27 us. The Spanish will have that extra motivation. I've been through experiences like that myself.

07:34 Playing here with Kenny Hamden and beating Spain 3-1 way back in the day and then being

07:42 invited out by Kenny D'Augliese and his wife Marina to Kenny's fair-in-laws pub with my

07:49 wife Jill, I thought, "I've arrived."

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