Liverpool defender Andy Robertson confesses he did not watch the World Cup group stage after failing to qualify for the tournament with Scotland.
The Tartan Army watched on in dismay as Ukraine won 3-1 at Hampden Park in June to eliminate Scotland and set up a clash with Wales, who ultimately qualified for Qatar. This means Robertson, who captained his nation to a goalless draw with England at Euro 2020, has had an unusual midseason break while many of his club teammates are in the Middle East.
The 28-year-old went on holiday with his wife, Rachel, and their two children before he was summoned to Dubai as part of Jurgen Klopp's 33-man squad for warm-weather training. Robertson admits he welcomed his time away from football and chose not to watch much of the World Cup, but has since begun tuning into international games.
Asked how he has found watching the World Cup, Robertson told Liverpoolfc.com : "Difficult, not really watched it, to be honest. [I] tried to switch off from football for a couple of weeks. Slowly but surely, the last couple of days, [I] started watching a couple more of the games and things like that.
"I was obviously in the other part of the world where time difference was a wee bit [different] and I didn't want to stay up and watch the games. I've watched all the games now - I want all the lads to do well. [Uruguay striker] Darwin [Nunez] is already out, which is disappointing for him, but the other lads are going strong and they look really good and their teams look really good.
"I want the boys here to go well. For Scotland, it's obviously difficult, we think we should've been there, but we didn't perform the way we did in the play-off, which was disappointing from our point of view, and we have to deal with that."
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Robertson is indispensable for club and country, making 240 appearances for the Reds and earning 60 caps for Scotland. Before returning to competitive action against Manchester City in the EFL Cup on 22 December, the Reds face Lyon and AC Milan in the Dubai Super Cup.
Reflecting on his unprecedented time off, Robertson added: "Family holidays are always rare, and I managed to get a good few days with them – they loved it. They loved having daddy there. Yeah, it was a good time.
"You start getting itchy feet and you want to get back on that grass and you want to start playing and you miss the boys and all the staff. I think we got to that point; we’re good to go again and excited to be back."
