Scotland take on former European champions Spain at Hampden Park on Tuesday night – and could send the home fans into dreamland with a famous Euro 2024 qualifying victory.
Scotland v Spain: Tuesday, 19:45
Suggested bets
- Scotland vs Spain DNB
- Scotland vs Spain BTTS, yes
- Scotland vs Spain, total home goals, over 0.5
Key stats
- Scotland have only beaten Spain competitively twice
- Scotland have won 11 of their last 16 games
- Spain have won six of their 10 games
- They have kept six clean sheets in that time
Scotland v Spain – Verdict
These two teams rarely meet. In fact they have only faced each other competitively eight times with the last of those games more than 12 years ago. That ended in a 3-1 home win for Spain, but they might well find things tougher at Hampden on Tuesday.
Spain were knocked out of the World Cup by Morocco on penalties in the round of 16 and Saturday’s performance in the win over Norway will have done little to banish those demons.
The 3-0 win over Norway was flattering to say the least. Norway were without Erling Haaland and he would have surely netted one of the number of chances that Spain gave up. Norway were looking like they may force a draw until Joselu climbed off the bench to score twice.
Spain dominated possession (63.5%) under new boss Luis de la Fuente, but they did not look quite as obsessed with the ball as previously. They failed to cut through a decent Norway team and afforded the visitors a number of chances.
It’s worth noting that Spain had won their last 23 European home qualifiers and they are a different animal away from home and were held by the Czech Republic in the Nations League.
De la Fuente made seven changes to the side that lost to Morocco and they got the job done – it just was not as convincing a performance as the scoreline suggests.
Norway (43) are ranked one place below Scotland and the hosts look capable of causing Spain problems.
They defeated Cyprus 3-0 over the weekend with two late goals of their own. They were rarely under any real pressure and dominated possession. But it will be a different game against Spain and Scotland will have to sit deep and defend in spells of the match.
But StevClarke does have a decent blend of creativity and hardwork in his midfield and the Scots have enough ability to create chances. Whether they can take enough of those chances will be key in a game in which they are 9/2 outsiders.
But they could be a bit of value against a team in transition, who have slipped up now and again away from home.
Hampden will be a sell-out and Scotland’s passionate home support could be crucial in what may be a historic night for the hosts.
