Euro 2020: Sir Kenny Dalglish previews England v Scotland

As Scotland prepare to face England at the finals of a major tournament for the first time in 25-years, Sir Kenny Dalglish looks ahead to one of the most anticipated clashes of Euro 2020.

It was June 1996 when Scotland last travelled to Wembley in the European Championships – a clash which would eventually see the home side victorious thanks to a memorable goal from Paul Gascoigne and a penalty save from David Seaman.

Just one match in the long and illustrious history of this game – the oldest international rivalry in the history of the sport which dates back to 1872.

And Sir Kenny is no stranger to this most colossal of fixtures either, scoring twice against England in 1976 and 1977 – with both strikes coming against Ray Clemmence, a goalkeeper he would enjoy so much success with at Liverpool throughout his career.

“I’d take Scotland every day of the week,” said Dalglish, who played 102 times for Scotland and scored 30 goals, when asked for a prediction in Friday’s game.

“The two best players we probably have are in the same position, Tierney and Robertson,” the Scotland legend revealed when assessing their chances at Wembley.

“Steve Clarke has to re-shuffle a little bit to accommodate both of them as you have to get them both in the team.

“Che Adams of Southampton choosing to play for Scotland is a huge boost for us and they’ve also got David Turnbull from Celtic who might be half decent – so they’re stronger now than they were before.”

Dalglish made his Scotland debut as a substitute in the 1–0 Euro 1972 qualifier victory over Belgium on 10 November 1971 at Pittodrie and scored his first goal for his country a year later on 15 November 1972 in the 2–0 World Cup qualifier win over Denmark at Hampden Park.

Scotland were defeated 2-0 at home by the Czech Republic in their opening game of Euro 2020 while England got off to a fine start by defeating Croatia at Wembley in their opener.

And Sir Kenny had plenty to say about Scotland’s opponents on Friday at Wembley too, who are many people’s favourites to go all the way at Euro 2020.

“The quality of the Premier League has really enhanced the quality of the England squad,” he explained when asked to predict how England will fare at this summer’s tournament.

“They’ll struggle after Scotland beat them and then see how far they go!” he joked. “If they don’t qualify then they’ve only got themselves to blame and they will be heavily criticised if they don’t.”

England play Scotland in Euro 2020 at Wembley on Friday, June 18, with the game kicking off at 20:00 BST.