Callum McGregor always looks to get away from the hustle and bustle of the cinema room where Scotland's players assemble to watch the Euro 2024 games. The Celtic captain isn't being unsociable, rather he prefers to cocoon himself in his room where there are no distractions from an important game. It's that way he feels he can truly take in the tactical intricacies and technical elements that leave him properly armed him for the next match.
He knows full well that Hungary have some excellent players, not least Liverpool superstar Dominik Szoboszlai who will be operating in McGregor's orbit. And it's up to the Scots to ensure the dynamic attacking midfielder is put under pressure from the get go in the same way the Swiss' top talents were shut down by a ravenous looking Scotland in Cologne.
He said: “I watched Hungary against Switzerland in my own room rather than the hotel’s cinema room. I like to watch football away from people, to see it tactically, to take more in.
“They’re a good side. They’ve done well in their two games despite the results. They’re big and physical, but they like to pass the ball as well. We’ll have to do a lot right and be aggressive, the way we were against Switzerland – that’s when you see good players become uncomfortable and that’s how we have to make them.
“Then when get the ball, we try to bring our strengths to the game. We try to attack down the sides and see if we can score a couple of goals.”
McGregor felt the passion pour down from the stands as a memorable rendition of Flower of Scotland shook Cologne's RheinEnergieStadion pre-match and admits one of the biggest challenges of turning out in front of the Tartan Army is avoiding being sucked into the emotion of the occasion.
He said: “All the boys knew it was win bust situation and you could feel the energy from the moment we walked into the stadium.
“It’s hard to get sucked in by the emotions. Obviously we have a job to do, we need clear minds, clarity, we have to be the understanding of our need to be the ones who get the good result that gives everyone else a good night, so in turn we also have a good night, so we need to keep it all in check.
“But sometimes it’s difficult when you’re in that situation when you hear the national anthem sung so loud and you have a huge amount of pride running through you. It’s just so important to keep a lid on it.
“We were too passive in the first game, we get that. We just didn’t turn up for whatever reason and it was important to bounce back from that. You’ll have disappointments in your life, in your career and everybody spoke after the game about trying to put that right.
“You’ll never quite get over it properly in terms of living the experience, but we did ourselves justice against Switzerland, we’re back in the group and we can face Hungary with a real, positive mindset to be the first Scotland team to get out of a group stage."
Steve Clarke and his team know that a win would send Scotland into the knock-out phase of a major tournament for the first time in their history. The nearly men of international football have the chance to seize the day and set right 70 years of painful history. Nobody wants it more than the players, who are fully aware they can make themselves key characters in the national team story for decades to come.
Read more:
“It’s exciting, for sure," McGregor admitted. "This is why you play football, to give yourself the opportunity to make history – that’s all you can ask, to be given the opportunity and we’ve given ourselves it. We’ve put ourselves in a position where we can go full energy into the game, give it everything we’ve got.
“There have been many, many Scotland players who’ve pulled on the jersey in the same position we find ourselves in; the last game, with a chance of getting through. For one reason or anything, it hasn’t happened before, so now we stand here as the next group of players with that opportunity. We really don’t want to let it go.
“We know that in football anything can happen and that we’re up against a good team, but as I keep saying, all we can ask for is the opportunity to give everything we have and hope that it’s enough. We’re really looking forward to Stuttgart. We’ll be full of energy, the supporters will be full of energy, so we’ll try and use that in as positive a way as we can."
