Scotland v Poland: Nations League – live | Nations League

Robertson curls towards the far stick. McTominay – who else? – meets it with his chest then forces it into the top-left corner from a couple of yards. Bułka flapping around.

22 min: Scotland are enjoying a little bit of joy down this left flank. Another Robertson cross, but there’s nobody in the middle. Then McGinn draws a foul from Urbański out on the other side of the field. Robertson to take. Scotland load the box.

21 min: McGinn turns and slips Christie into space down the inside left. Christie finds McTominay to his right. McTominay enters the box but his body shape is never right for a shot and he skies the ball miles over the bar and quite a way left to boot.

20 min: Scotland continue to snap at Poland, Szymański now taking a whack from Robertson. It’s all eagerness rather than aggression, to be fair.

18 min: McTominay betrays a little frustration by absolutely clattering into the back of Szymański. You’ve seen bookings for less, though for a while the referee wasn’t even going to whistle for a free kick. McTominay will be happy enough with the eventual middle ground, as he trots off unpunished.

16 min: Christie causes a fuss down the left and cuts back for Robertson, who hooks into the mixer. Dykes competes for a header, but in an over-enthusiastic manner and the whistle goes. This is a decent enough response to falling behind, even if Bułka hasn’t had a shot to field yet.

15 min: Robertson rolls the free kick across the face of the box, allowing the Polish defence to close down McTominay as he prepares to shoot. No good. “Great shot of Stevie Clarke there with a big bag behind him that simply says ‘drugs’,” reports James Humphries. “He’s obviously no more confident than I am.”

14 min: McTominay bustles, causing bother as he always does, down the inside right. He’s skittled just outside the box and this is a free kick in a dangerous position. Robertson stands over it.

12 min: Scotland try to respond quickly. Robertson sends an up and under into the box from the left. Bułka claims, but then drops under pressure from Dykes, who attempts to swivel and hook the ball goalwards while prone. He can’t get any purchase behind the ball and the keeper claims at the second attempt.

10 min: That was a fine shot by Szymański, off the inside of the post, and yet Gunn might have done better. The keeper over a wee bit late. In the interests of balance, ITV co-commentator Neil McCann thought the shot “unstoppable”.

… and now they take their second, and now they have the lead. McLean gives Gilmour a hospital pass in midfield. Urbański makes off with the ball. He offloads to Szymański, who strides down the middle before sending a swerving, dipping effort into the bottom right from 25 yards.

7 min: Poland show in attack for the first time, Zalewski making good down the left before gliding infield and scuffing a shot towards the bottom left. Easy for Gunn, but after Scotland’s bright start, it’s Poland who have taken the first shot in anger.

6 min: McLean snaps into a couple of tackles in the middle of the park. Twice he strips the Poles of possession; twice his team-mates fail to react by snaffling the loose ball. He gesticulates in mild irritation, but that’s good tenacious play by McLean. Onwards and upwards.

4 min: That was a crisp little move down the left, and Scotland continue to start in a confident manner, giving Poland no time on the ball while knocking it around neatly themselves. More of this, please.

2 min: Dykes pings a pass down the left for McTominay, who strides into space. McTominay tries to return the ball with a low raking cross, but Dykes hasn’t been able to keep up with play. Poland’s new keeper Bułka ushers the ball through his six-yard area and away.

Scotland kick off. McLean gets the ball rolling. Hampden roaring now!

The teams are out! As the players emerge from the tunnel, a sell-out Hampden doesn’t exactly roar – not yet, anyway – but the applause is warm and sustained. Scotland in blue with yellow flashes, Poland in second-choice red. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes, after handshakes, coin tosses, pennant swapping, and patriotic music in the folk idiom.

Scotland captain Andy Robertson will make his 75th appearance in dark blue tonight. He’ll become only the seventh man to reach that milestone. Here’s where he currently sits in the pantheon … with John McGinn not too far behind him.

1. Kenny Dalglish (102 caps, 30 goals)

2. Jim Leighton (91 caps)

3. Darren Fletcher (80 caps, five goals)

4. Alex McLeish (77 caps)

5. Paul McStay (76 caps, nine goals)

6. Craig Gordon (75 caps)

7. Andrew Robertson (74 caps, three goals)

8. Tom Boyd (72 caps, one goal)

9. John McGinn (69 caps, 18 goals), Kenny Miller (69 caps, 18 goals), David Weir (69 caps, one goal)

Wojciech Szczęsny, formerly of Arsenal and Brentford, has retired, so Marcin Bułka of Nice takes his spot in the Polish goal. Michał Probierz’s starting XI features a couple of Premier League stars in Arsenal’s Jakub Kiwior and Southampton’s Jan Bednarek, while Jakub Moder of Brighton is on the bench. Robert Lewandowski, 36 and fighting fit, will start the match looking for his 84th goal in his 153rd appearance for his country.

Never change, Steve Clarke. And he’s not going to. Not really. There are no debutants in tonight’s Scotland starting XI, with just three changes to the team that started the 2-1 defeat against Hungary at Euro 2024. Calum McGregor has retired, while Che Adams and Jack Hendry are injured, so in come Lyndon Dykes, Ryan Christie and Kenny McLean. Five players sit on the bench hoping to make their debut: Josh Doig, Max Johnston, Connor Barron, Ben Doak and – this may make you feel old – Scotland’s one-time wonderkid and mooted answer to Lionel Messi, Ryan Gauld, who is now 28. Hey, he’s been waiting for over a decade, what’s another 60-odd minutes before he finally gets a run-out?

Ah the vagaries of form, fixtures and fortune. Scotland embark on a top-tier Nations League campaign for the first time, promoted to League A as part of a fine run during 2022 and 2023 that included statement victories over Ukraine, Norway and Spain. Meanwhile the auld enemy England were getting gubbed four at home by Hungary en route to relegation to League B.

Those days are past now. England went on to make the final of Euro 2024, Spain won the whole thing, and Hungary sent Steve Clarke’s men homeward tae think again. No point poking at old wounds, other than to wonder if Scotland can rise now and be … OK, let’s stop that. But the team really does need to get back on the horse after the hopes of 2022 and 2023 were so systematically crushed in Germany, having lost seven and drawn four of their last 12 matches, their only win coming against Gibraltar, and a throughly underwhelming 2-0 at that. Possible debuts for Ryan Gauld and Ben Doak could get Hampden roaring again. Poland, who also endured a miserable Euros but can still boast Robert Lewandowski, and have never lost a competitive fixture against the Scots, stand in their way. Kick-off is at 7.45pm BST. It’s on!