AS a Celtic-daft youngster growing up in Clydebank back in the 2000s, John McGinn dreamed of one day scoring or setting up a goal for the Parkhead club as his similarly-minded relations cheered him on from the stands.
He finally achieved that feat when the Glasgow club played Aston Villa in their final Champions League league phase match at Villa Park back in January - kind of.
The Villa midfielder started the match on the bench as he had only returned from a lengthy injury lay-off three days earlier. But he made an immediate impact on proceedings after replacing Matty Cash after half an hour.
He deflected a Greg Taylor cross straight onto the head of Adam Idah and allowed the visitors, who had been trailing 2-0, to pull a goal back. The irony of the moment was not lost on him.
“I was definitely gutted not to start the game after working so hard to get back fit,” said the Scotland internationalist at Hampden yesterday ahead of the opening Nations League play-off match against Greece in Athens tomorrow night.
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“But I was even more devastated at half-time when the aggregate score of me coming on was 2-0 Celtic (Idah netted a second to make it 2-2 before the end of the opening 45 minutes). So the story was written, the narrative was there, I could feel it. I got my first assist for Celtic, all those ones.
“One minute I'm sitting a couple of yards away from Tony Ralston. I said, ‘I'm not getting on here’. Three minutes later, with no real warm-up, I'm on the pitch and it's 2-2.
“It was a strange night, but thankfully for us it was a massive night and a really important victory in the end. I think if Atalanta had scored at the end they would have got into the top eight and they might still be in the competition. So the margins were fine, but in the end it worked out all right for me.
“But there was a story certainly written at half-time which was challenging. Some of my family members were probably celebrating my assist at the time, to be honest, which made the night trickier. Seriously, though, it was fine. At half-time, the manager [Unai Emery] was really good.”
He is optimistic that being involved against the best footballers in the world at home and abroad on a regular basis this season will prove beneficial to him when he represents Scotland at international level going forward.
“I've had some brilliant experiences this year in the Champions League,” he said. “That Celtic game was another great night under a lot of pressure. Hopefully I can use those experiences to deliver a performance for the national team.” With Nations League survival and a place in the World Cup finals to play for in the months ahead, it will help Scotland manager Steve Clarke, who is missing a raft of players to injury in this camp, if McGinn could do exactly that.
The 73-times capped 30-year-old played for his country at the Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 finals and he is eager to be involved in Canada, Mexico and the United States in 2026. He appreciates it may be his only opportunity to feature at a World Cup finals.
“Qualifying for the major tournaments is probably the best feeling you can have as a Scotland player,” he said. “After so many years of feeling the pain, seeing how much it hurt the guys who had unfortunately missed out at the first few camps I was involved in, there was nothing like qualifying.
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“It's exciting (to have the chance to go to a World Cup). I always love the opportunity to try and do something special. I watched the St Mirren fans celebrate a trophy after so long. Then the Hibs supporters. I know what that means to people, clubs, cities. It can transform and re-energise a club. “Luckily at Aston Villa we've been climbing and we have an opportunity in a couple of cup competitions to do something special. You watched Newcastle on Sunday and you think, ‘Imagine that in Birmingham’. It's a really exciting end to the season, club-wise. “I think we know every single path to the World Cup is really, really difficult. For me, Robbo [Andy Robertson], Kenny [McLean], Granty [Hanley], it might be our last shot at it. But first we're going to give it everything and by staying in League A of the Nations League. It gives us the best chance to qualify for major tournaments in the future if we do that.”
“We've got a brilliant record at home this season,” he said. “I think we've only lost once there in the Premiership and maybe not at all in Europe this season. They had a choice to crumble, sit in, make it less painful or keep playing when they went two behind. In fairness to them, they kept playing the way the did.
“I thought they were excellent on the night and my team mates and the staff were very impressed as well. The manager showed them the utmost respect before the game. We watched a lot of their European games in detail. Thankfully on the night, we just managed to edge it.”
